The West destroyed Africa, Eurasia will revive it
Africa's renaissance is already underway through partnerships with
Eurasian powers Russia and China, whose significant contributions are
already visible in security, economic, and institutional sectors
throughout the continent.
by Matthew Ehret
https://new.thecradle.co (September 19 2023)
http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/44364ca2-5709-11ee-a675-00163e02c055.webp
Photo Credit: The Cradle
In Africa, injustice looms large, marked by poverty, warfare, and
famine. Despite post-World War Two political gains, economic
independence, a vital component of true freedom as envisioned by
Pan-African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, and Haile
Selassie, remains elusive.
After decades of restrictive IMF and World Bank loans, poverty,
hunger, and conflict persist throughout the continent. While many
attribute this to Africa's governance challenges, in reality, a
deliberate imperial agenda has hindered the continent's development in
all political, economic, and security sectors.
Coups against neo-colonialism
But much has changed in the past few years. The growing clout of
Eurasian institutions that fully embrace Global South countries as
valuable, integral, and equal members - the BRICS+ and Greater
Eurasian Partnership are examples - offer hope that old neo-colonial
shackles will be broken and that Africa can enjoy an unfettered
renaissance.
The rise of a new global pole to challenge the old unipolar order has
had a notable impact across sub-Saharan West Africa which, in recent
years, has seen a surge in military coups shifting power away from
regimes that had long prioritized the interests of western
corporations.
These coups occurred in Chad (April 2021), Mali (May 2021), Guinea
(September 2021), Sudan (October 2021), Burkina Faso (January 2022),
Niger (July 2023), and Gabon (August 2023) - all resource-rich
countries with abnormally poor living conditions.
In Gabon, over 30 percent of its people live on less than $1 per day,
while 60 percent of its regions have no healthcare or clean drinking
water despite the abundance of gold, diamonds, manganese, uranium,
iron ore, natural gas, and oil - mostly monopolized by French
corporations like Eramat, Total, and Ariva.
Despite its abundance of rare earths, copper, uranium, and Gold, 70
percent of Malians still live in abject poverty. Similarly, Sudan,
with its riches in oil, fertile soil, and water, has 77 percent of the
population living below the poverty line.
In uranium-rich Niger, which provides over 35 percent of the fuel for
France's nuclear industry (accounting for 70 percent of France's
energy basket), mainly under the control of France's Orano, only 3
percent of Nigerians have access to electricity. In the "former"
French colony of Chad, that number is only a little higher at 9
percent, and a still-unacceptable 20 percent in Burkina Faso.
While Altanticists desperately seek ways to keep their talons embedded
into the African continent and its abundant riches, a much healthier
security paradigm has emerged in recent years from Eurasia.
A new security paradigm for Africa and the world
Since the 2021 coup in Mali, Russian military support has skyrocketed,
with the supply of numerous fighter jets and Turkish drones,
accompanied by Russian military advisors who have provided substantial
assistance to the state.
This approach mirrors Moscow's strategy in other conflict-ridden
countries, such as Syria, where the focus is on eradicating terrorism
and supporting legitimate governments.
In 2022, following local accusations that French troops were
supporting the Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists they claimed to be
fighting, 400 Russian military personnel were deployed to Boko
Haram-infested Mali. This move marked a significant shift in the
region's security dynamics.
Despite the extensive presence of US and French military bases across
Africa and the substantial financial investments in
"counter-terrorism" efforts on the continent, militant violence has
continued to escalate dramatically, with sub-Saharan Africa witnessing
an 8 percent increase in terrorism over the previous year.
Last year, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 60 percent of all
terror-related deaths. A 2021 African Center for Strategic Studies
report shows that 18,000 conflicts affected sub-Saharan states
resulting in over 32 million displaced persons and refugees.
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Map of African countries generating the largest share of forced displacement
Russia has steadily established itself as a dependable supporter of
African national governments in recent years, by leveraging its
advanced defense industry and military intelligence capabilities. It
aims to foster cooperation and development alongside China and the
broader BRICS+ group, thereby creating a more conducive environment
for mutual growth.
While the West portrays Russia as weak and isolated, the fact that 49
African nations were present at the second Africa-Russia Summit in
July 2023 paints a very different picture.
Russia has also emerged as Africa's top arms supplier - representing
44 percent of arms imports from 2017 to 2022 - and has signed
military/technical agreements with 40 African states. Moreover, Moscow
has engaged in joint military training exercises with countries like
Egypt, Algeria, South Africa (in collaboration with China), and
Tunisia.
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Map of African states which have military cooperation with Russia
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Map of African states which have military-technical cooperation with Russia
Alternative to rules-based order
During the May 2023 11th International Meeting of High Representatives
for Security Issues, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the
objectives of his country's vision, stating that nations should
jointly work towards "strengthening stability in the world, the
consistent construction of a system of unified indivisible security,
solving major tasks of ensuring economic, technological and social
development".
The Russian leader called out the need to create a "more just
multipolar world, and that the ideology of exclusivity, as well as the
neo-colonial system, which made it possible to exploit the resources
of the world, will inevitably become a thing of the past".
From 28 August to 2 September, 50 African Defense chiefs and 100
senior representatives of the African Union attended the China-Africa
Peace and Security Forum, where the theme was "Implementing the Global
Security Initiative and Strengthening Africa-China Solidarity and
Cooperation" as an alternative to the rules-based order.
Chinese military expert Song Zhongping was quoted by Global Times as saying:
China will not interfere in the internal affairs of African countries,
but we will assist African nations in building defensive military
capabilities, and we are also willing to enhance collaboration with
African countries on counter-terrorism and other non-traditional
security matters.
Sustainable security means economic development
The fight against the destructive effects of imperialism may seem
daunting, especially when viewed solely through the lens of military
affairs. But the growing influence of major multipolar institutions
offers an important, consensus-based, strength-in-numbers way forward.
The BRICS+, for instance, has made sure to add new members
strategically. Last month, the organization grew from five to 11
members, which today include three geostrategic African nations of
Egypt, South Africa, and Ethiopia, and major West Asian energy
powerhouses Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE with extensive interests
across Africa.
Then there's China's Global Security Initiative, unveiled in April
2022, which represents far more than just a non-western security
doctrine. It embodies a fundamentally different paradigm, which at its
core, places paramount emphasis on economic development as the
foundation for long-term strategic peace.
Beijing has not only endorsed the objectives of the African Union's
Africa Agenda 2063 in words, but has done more than any other country
in realizing those ambitious goals, which call for "unity,
self-determination, freedom, progress, and collective prosperity
pursued under Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance".
Over the past decade, China has advanced a policy of rail development,
connectivity, and building up industrial capacities, training, and
skill-building across partner nations. During that time, trade with
Africa has risen to $282 billion in trade in 2022, marking an 11
percent increase over the previous year - a figure more than four
times that of the US, which recorded $63 billion in trade with Africa
in 2022.
During that same 10-year span, Chinese companies have won $700 billion
in contracted projects to build energy systems, transportation grids,
manufacturing hubs, ports, telecommunication, aerospace, aviation,
finance, and a myriad of soft infrastructure.
Despite the challenges posed by Western interventions, China has been
able to build 6000 kilometers of rail, 6000 kilometers of roads, 20
ports, 80 large power facilities, 130 hospitals, and 170 schools on
the continent.
While some Western "democracies" resort to the threat of military
intervention, punitive sanctions, or assassinations in post-coup
Niger, China assumed the role of peace broker and re-emphasized its
commitment to continue all projects in Niger, including the crucial
2,000-kilometer pipeline designed to export crude oil from the Agadem
fields to the Port of Seme in Benin.
This pipeline, currently three-quarters finished, will boost Niger's
oil output by 450 percent upon completion.
In Tanzania, the Chinese government hosted the 25 August China-Africa
Vision conference promoting a myriad of economic initiatives, but its
highlight was the Tanzania-Burundi-Democratic Republic of Congo
railway which will likely become the first of several major
transcontinental rail lines outlined in the Africa Agenda 2063 Report.
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Map of Africa's railway corridors
Another significant development is the construction of northern
sections of east-west continental railways. The electrified
Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway, completed in 2018, serves as the
cornerstone of a major rail corridor connecting Senegal, Mali, Niger,
Chad, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti,
facilitating trade and economic growth across the sub-Sahara.
The extension of the Trans-African rail across the 29-kilometer Bab
el-Mandeb Strait, linking Djibouti to Yemen, and its subsequent
connection to the Persian Gulf-Red Sea high-speed rail line currently
under construction is indeed an exciting prospect. China's ongoing
efforts in this regard are laying the foundation for broad continental
harmony.
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China is constructing the "African BRI" (Belt and Road Initiative) in
sections, including a 1,228-kilometer line connecting Dakar in Senegal
to Bamako in Mali, and a 283-kilometer line connecting landlocked
Niger to Nigeria, which is in its final phase of construction.
As this project continues to expand, feeder lines into other
landlocked African countries and ports along the Atlantic coast will
likely become evident, enhancing connectivity and trade across the
continent.
In August, Kenya and Uganda announced the launch of a $6 billion
Standard Gauge rail line as part of the Northern Corridor Integration
Project of the East African nations extending the already existent
Mombassa-Nairobi-Naivasha line built by China in 2018 to Kampala in
Uganda, Kigali in Rwanda and then South Sudan and Ethiopia. It will
eventually connect with the emerging Djibouti-Dakar railway, further
integrating East and West Africa.
North-South African development
In North Africa, three north-south rail lines outlined in the Africa
Agenda 2063 Vision have strategic ports in Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco
to facilitate trade with Europe. Egypt's imminent entry into BRICS+ in
January 2024, and Algeria's potential future inclusion, signify the
growing geopolitical significance of North Africa as a hub of
industrial growth and a gateway between Africa, Europe, and the
Eurasian Heartland.
Egypt is Africa's second largest economy with a $475 billion GDP
enjoying a strategic gateway into the Heartland and Europe via both
land and sea routes. China is also helping to build Egypt's high-speed
rail system alongside German firms and is a major investor in Egyptian
ports - Alexandria, Abu Qir, and El Dekheila - that are integrated
with the supply lines into Europe, where China has a controlling stake
in Greece's Port of Piraeus.
Morocco, which successfully built Africa's first high-speed railway
(Al Boraq) with financing from France, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and
Kuwait, has also built the Mediterranean's largest port - the Tanger
Med Port - with China financing 40 percent of the port's expansion.
This advanced transportation grid has inspired European automakers
like Groupe Renault and Groupe PSA to launch factories in the region.
While China has not built automotive facilities in Morocco, it has
built a massive $400 million aluminum casting plant that supplies
material used by French automotive producer Peugeot, and although
China failed to win the contracts to build the first phase of
Morocco's high-speed network, plans are in motion to take the lead on
the upcoming extensions.
From the standpoint of energy geopolitics, Russia's Rosneft owns a
stake in Egypt's Zohr offshore natural gas field and, in June 2022,
Russia's Rosatom began building a third-generation reactor set to
begin generating energy in 2026 located in El Dabaa. Russia also has a
$2.3 billion stake in a petrochemical complex and oil refinery in
Morocco, and Rosatom is carrying out studies for Moroccan desalination
plants.
Africa is undeniably on the move, and the quest for economic
independence, long denied by colonial powers, is finally emerging. The
rise of a multipolar order, with ancient civilizational states
cooperating and adhering to Natural Law, offers hope for the eventual
post-Hobbesian order, bringing us closer to a more just and harmonious
world.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those
of The Cradle.
Links: The original version of this article, at the URL below,
contains several links to further information not included here:
https://new.thecradle.co/articles/the-west-destroyed-africa-eurasia-will-revive-it
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