ST. PETERSBURG, Russia
African leaders are to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg at the end of this month for a summit, billed as strengthening cooperation in peace, security, and development.
But the second Russia-Africa
Summit comes as Moscow continues to wage war against Ukraine. Russia’s invasion
has led to higher food and oil prices for many African nations – and prices
could rise further after Russia this week pulled out of the Black Sea Grain
Initiative, a U.N.-brokered deal that allowed Ukrainian food exports to reach
international markets.
International summits involve
an element of political theater, analysts say, and African attendance will be a
measure of success for the St. Peterburg gathering, according to Steven Gruzd,
who leads the Africa-Russia project at the South African Institute of
International Affairs in Johannesburg.
“I think there will be a lot
of focus on who attends ... and last time in 2019, when the world looked very
different before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, there were 43 African heads
of state that went to Sochi [Russia] for the 2019 summit,” Gruzd told VOA.
Mvemba Dizolele, who directs
the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington, said this will be a high-stakes discussion.
“They [Russia] are under a lot
of pressure with what’s happening in Ukraine and the ramifications of the
conflict there in terms of commodity prices, particularly for Africans — and
also what’s happening with Wagner and so on — so this an opportunity for Russia
to try to assert its place on the global stage as well,” Dizolele told VOA.
Trade likely will be
discussed.
“I think there would be talk
about trade ... Russia’s trade with Africa is really negligible. China and the
EU are by far much bigger trading partners with Africa,” Gruzd noted.
Russia is also looking to get
around sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies.
“No African countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, so it’s a lucrative market,” said Gruzd. "We saw a similar pattern after the invasion of Georgia in 2008, and the first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, as Western markets closed to Russia business, they sought markets elsewhere and of course Africa, Latin America, Asia were areas where they did seek to expand.”
The U.N. General Assembly in
February passed a resolution demanding that Russia end the war and leave
Ukrainian territory. While 141 countries voted in favor, two African countries
voted against it and 15 abstained.
“Russia benefited from that in
the sense that it showed them they have some friends,” Dizolele said. “It’s
simply an awakening on the African part. They are particularly sending a message
to the rest of the world, ‘we also have our own foreign policies, and those
reflect our national interest.’”
He said the reality is that
every country has done what it needed to do.
“The French president went to
Russia and tried to negotiate something that was very different than what the
Americans were trying to negotiate. We see various leaders of Europe ... go to
Russia. Italy did not have the same position and France didn’t have the same
position as Germany. It’s totally normal that people have different positions.
All that is based on their interest. I think we need to accept that of
Africans,” Dizolele said.
The United States, Turkey,
China, France, and other countries have convened similar summits of African
leaders. Dizolele said the optics of one country summoning the leaders of an
entire continent undermines Africa’s efforts to assert itself on the global
stage.
“Africa is a big place. Africa
is a critical component and critical member of the global community. It has a
lot to offer from ... natural resources, mineral resources but most importantly
the youth. It’s the youngest continent with the median age of 19,” he said.
“So, if that’s the case, it’s
important that Africans start demanding that people come to them. You can’t be
important and going to everyone all the time, it reduces your value,” he notes.
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