APA-Lagos (Nigeria) Russia and China may be looking to forge closer ties as a bulwark against the global hegemony of the west, but Africa’s growing influence has witnessed an added stew to the recipes of ever shifting geopolitical relations.
In past meetings between some of the world’s major powers it was hardly found worth the while to make even a passing mention of Africa and giving it pride of place in the international scheme of things.
Not anymore!
The swelling influence of this continent of 1.3 billion people is chiefly thanks to the growing importance of its role as a supplier of coveted rare earths to the global trading system, its expanding diaspora, a dynamic ad predominantly youthful population (70 percent under 30 years of age) and a cultural appeal taking the world by storm.
The rest of the world is training a keen eye on Africa not least because it is slowly but surely finding its voice where there used to be none and becoming relevant as the last trade and diplomatic frontier worthy of a conquest.
Characterising the visit to Moscow by China’s Xi Jinping for crunch talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin in view of the protracted conflict in Ukraine, both powers have Africa firmly in their sight as they set about charting a diplomatic offensive to rally the rest of the world on their side to counter western influence.
Africa as a trading bloc is growing big in the eyes of Moscow and Beijing, two powers who can no longer pretend that the world’s second largest continent in terms of land mass has nothing significant to offer in the arena of international diplomacy that can help tip the balance in their favour.
These are times of heightened global competition for geopolitical influences which in their fierce rivalries ignore no region of the world not least Africa which is looking bigger and better in the eye line of their respective diplomatic trajectories.
Both Asian powers are members of the emerging economies under the exclusive BRICS club of nations which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the continent’s foremost economic powerhouse.
A second tier club of emerging economies called MINT covers Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey.
Cumulatively Russian and Chinese trade in Africa is almost thrice as much as US trading involvement with countries on the continent.
In trading terms Africa with a GDP of $3.14 trillion, accounts for 12 percent of China’s global supply market while Russian exports to the continent reached $25 billion in 2019 with forecasts suggesting an increase in the next couple of years.
Both Asian countries hold their own separate summits with Africa, encounters which in recent years have picked up steam as flagship calendar events lending credence to the growing reputation of countries on the continent from the status of negligible to fully-fledged trading partners.
Aside from synchronising trade relations between Moscow and Beijing, Putin and Xi with an avid eye on Africa have vowed to ”enhance communication and coordination on international affairs, especially in the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS and other multilateral frameworks, practice true multilateralism, oppose hegemonism and power politics, contribute to global post-COVID economic recovery, advance the trend toward a multi-polar world, and promote the reform and improvement of the global governance system”.
The latest scramble for Africa is increasingly being seen as a prized trophy hunt too good to be missed and so the rush for it gathers momentum with none prepared to be left out.
In January 2023, the major powers including the United States, China and Russia underlined the extent of their 21st century scramble for huge slices of the continent by staging whirlwind tours in African capitals staking claims to everything African nations had to offer them in terms of deals ranging from fair trade, oil and gas, counterterrorism to cyber security, climate change mitigation and diplomatic support at the UN.
The fact that all three foreign ministers timed their visits to coincide with each other’s ‘cap-in-hand’ presence in Africa speaks volumes about how the continent has suddenly become the proverbial maiden in the company of fawning suitors gravitating towards the radiating power of her newfound beauty as if they had missed it during her earlier incarnation.
France worried about losing its gravitas which it had taken for granted especially in its former African colonies has also cut to the chase, this coming against the backdrop of trenchant anti-French sentiments in Burkina Faso, Mali and the Central African Republic among other ‘renegade Francafrique satellite states’.
Africa has developed its own multi-polarity influence in the world which Russia and China may find useful in their quest to build up a new and sustainable counterculture to the west’s long standing hegemony which could not have been more threatened by the Asian giants.
Russian and Chinese navies joined their counterparts in South Africa for maritime drills which were roundly condemned in Western capitals increasingly jittery over how these two Asian giants are cozying up to African governments.
Which brings up the role of the Russian mercenary group Wagner in a number of West African countries especially Mali where they are being relied on to tackle a decade-old insurgency by jihadists.
African countries and their representatives are bonafide members of an ever expanding network of international fora whose backing Moscow sought in its raging war with Ukraine.
With a few exceptions like Ghana which unreservedly condemned Moscow over the war, the rest of Africa while not tacitly taking sides refrained from openly criticising both protagonists to the conflict, leaving little to the imagination of belligerents about their unwillingness to go beyond the language of diplomacy to help end the year-long crisis.
African countries also have strong trade ties with Ukraine but could not see past steering clear of a position that would gravitate toward one side at the expense of the other.
This is not to assume that African nations are not hedging their bets over the conflict.
”It’s a prestigious time to be African knowing how suddenly our continent is being viewed with some respect by powers who had looked down on us with contempt as we looked up to them for help and guidance” says a Nigerian geopolitical analyst.
He adds that after so many false dawns characterised by geopolitical realities heavily stacked against its people, Africa’s time to shine cannot come soon enough.
WN/as/APA