What would transform Africa’s fortunes is not a shift from the West to Russia or China or the Middle East but self-belief and a reconfiguration of internal politics so that systems and institutions are compatible with public interests and norms and values. Clearly, unaccountable regimes in Africa are highly vulnerable to exploitation by external authoritarian actors—at a heavy cost to citizen sovereignty.
African leaders must do away with a begging mentality and stop taking whatever is thrown at us by other global actors; we must start to forge partnerships on mutuality of interests. But for prospective partners and governments to respect us, there must be no ambiguity, we must be unrelenting in showing it is necessary for them to respect us; we must make our position on various global issues clear; instead of the controversial neutral posturing, we must choose right from wrong.
First, we must address internal loopholes that have been a key cause of chronic instability and exposure of countries of the continent to foreign exploitation. We saw the Wagner PMC boss, Prigozhin on the side-lines of the Russia – Africa summit engaging some heads of states presumably to offer security services. Wagner already has contracts in Mali, the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, and was briefly in northern Mozambique. The question is: why do we need foreign forces to secure our continent and its residents?
Many internal conflicts are predictable and can be resolved internally with good governance; the main source for Africa’s internal conflicts is lack of transparency, exclusionary and suppressive politics that marginalises certain population groups. Governments often make peaceful resolutions difficult to achieve leading to resentment and rebellion.
We do not want to be pawns in the West/ East fight for global control; we want control over our lives hence we must know what we need to build right partnerships for the continent’s population. Recently, representatives from 17 of the 54 African countries attended a Russia – Africa summit; although ending the Russia/ Ukraine war and seeking the resumption of the grain deal seem to be the objectives, it remains unclear how and why the summit should be prioritised over the Niger crisis.
Russia – Africa summit attendees: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Libya, Mali, Mozambique, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Union of the Comoros, and Zimbabwe.
African delegates have made it clear they would like Russia to renew the grain deal from which it terminated early July claiming that obstacles to its ability to export foods and fertilisers had still not been eased. The Russian action has caused shortage of grains, worsened food insecurity on the African continent and food prices, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Strange as it sounds, despite vast and largely fertile land for agriculture, many African countries rely heavily on Russia and Ukraine for their grain imports. According to UN data, between 90-100% of the wheat Somalia and Eritrea needs comes from the two countries.
Russia recognises the consequences of its actions on the most vulnerable populations in the world, so Moscow which is set to benefit from the rise in grain price has promised to share revenues from its sells with the “poorest nations.” It promised to resume shipping 25,000 to 50,000 tons of grain for free to six African nations (Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Eritrea, and Central African Republic) in the next three to four months — an amount dwarfed by the 725,000 tons shipped by the U.N. World Food Program to several hungry countries, African and otherwise, under the grain deal.
The Egyptian and South African presidents were among the most vocal on the need for Russia to resume the grain deal.
“We would like the Black Sea initiative to be implemented and that the Black Sea should be open,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said. “We are not here to plead for donations for the African continent.”
Russia’s charm offensive attracted little interest with many African leaders choosing to stay away; notable absentees from the summit included Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu and Kenya’s William Ruto, as well as Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame.
The Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga was open in his criticism of Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, arguing, “I don’t think that this moment in time is a good time for summits in Russia. Because Russia is involved in a war, a conflict.”
“Africa needs to take a very firm stance on this issue. It’s a question of right and wrong. Therefore, my view is that we cannot be neutral in the place of an aggression. You must take a stand one way or another,” Odinga said.
Countries have a right to choose allies, but those choices must be influenced by national, not leaders’ personal interests. We believe Africa’s problems have their root in African society and only Africans can find lasting solutions. Everyone knows tribalism is core to our instability problems, but addressing tribalism is not politically beneficial so politicians will never prioritise a fight against it. Perhaps the electorate needs to take over control and reject all out of touch politicians; policy over tribe must be the way forward. When we start to listen to ourselves as much as we take heed of foreign advice, we will address the significant issues plaguing the continent.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 