Russia's trade with Africa increased by 35% - Putin

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the trade turnover between Russia and African countries had increased by almost 35% in the first half of 2023 despite international sanctions and the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at a trilateral meeting with the Chairperson of the African Union, President of the Union of Comoros Azali Assoumani, and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, Putin said "despite the difficulties related to the coronavirus pandemic and the imposition of illegal sanctions against Russia, it was possible to ensure the growth in the pace of trade and economic ties" with African countries.

Putin added last year, "the volume of mutual trade amounted to about 18 billion dollars."

"In the first half of this year, the trade turnover increased by almost 35%," Putin noted.

"Russia continues to be a reliable supplier of food to Africa," he added, saying that in 2022, Russian exports of this group of goods had amounted to 4.7 billion dollars."

Some African leaders arrived in Russia for a summit with Putin as he seeks allies amid the military operation in Ukraine, while the Kremlin accused Western powers of “outrageous” efforts to pressure other African heads of state not to attend.

Putin has billed the two-day summit that opens Thursday in St. Petersburg as a major event that would help bolster ties with a continent of 1.3 billion people that is increasingly assertive on the global stage.

But Azali Assoumani told Putin during the meeting that they were "not going to close our eyes to the issue between Russia and Ukraine, because these are two countries with which we have partnerships, and we can see the negative consequences around the world, specifically in Africa."

Senegal repatriates 50 migrants from Morocco

DAKAR, Senegal

Senegal repatriated some 50 of its nationals intercepted in recent weeks in Morocco, trying to emigrate to Europe. The group was repatriated from Dakhla, Western Sahara. 

A total of 450 Senegalese migrants have been apprehended in Morocco in recent weeks. 

The Senegalese Minister of Foreign Affairs said the repatriated migrants were brought back due to health reasons.

"We were able to bring back with us about 50 migrants whose health, of course, requires evacuation by air. So, the 19 who were hospitalized. We left one more in the hospital, which is still quite ill," said Annette Seck, Senegal's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The remaining almost 430 migrants were to be brought back home by bus from Morocco in the coming days. Some of the arrivals were visibly in poor condition, walking on crutches or supporting each other.

The Senegalese government says that 260 Senegalese "in distress were rescued in Moroccan territorial waters" between June 28 and July 9. On Wednesday, eight people died off Saint-Louis, Senegal's northernmost town, when their pirogue overturned.

Crossing to the Canaries is the most perilous of all the routes that African migrants take in their bid to reach Europe.

It entails days of sailing across treacherous currents in motorized open canoes known as pirogues, which are usually unseaworthy, overladen and lack water.

Russian and Chinese delegates join North Korean leader Kim at a military parade

By Kim Tong-Hyung, SEOUL South Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shared center stage with senior delegates from Russia and China as he rolled out his most powerful nuclear-capable missiles in a military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, marking a major war anniversary with a show of defiance against the United States and deepening ties with Moscow as tensions on the peninsula are at their highest point in years.

State media said Friday Kim attended Thursday evening’s parade with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese ruling party official Li Hongzhong from a balcony looking over a brightly illuminated Kim Il Sung Square, named after Kim’s grandfather, the founder of North Korea.

The streets and stands were packed with tens of thousands of mobilized spectators, who roared in approval as waves of goose-stepping soldiers, tanks and huge, intercontinental ballistic missiles wheeled out on launcher trucks filled up the main road. In recent days, according to KCNA reports, people have been brought from the around the country to fill the crowd.

Photos showed Kim Jong Un smiling and talking with Shoigu and Li, who respectively stood to his right and left at the balcony’s center spot, and Kim and Shoigu raising their hands to salute the parading troops. KCNA did not say whether Kim made a speech.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the parade featured ceremonial flights of newly developed surveillance and attack drones, which were first unveiled by state media this week as they reported on an arms exhibition attended by Kim and Shoigu.

For a finale, the parade rolled out new ICBMs that were flight-tested in recent months and demonstrated ranges that could reach deep into the U.S. mainland, the Hwasong-17 and Hwasong-18. Some analysts have argued these missiles are based on Russian designs or know-how.

North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam spoke, describing the parade as a historic celebration of the country’s “great victory” against “U.S. imperialist aggression forces and groups of its satellite states.”

He condemned the United States for its expanding military exercises with South Korea, which the North portrays as invasion rehearsals, and also launching new rounds of nuclear contingency planning meetings with Seoul. The allies describe their drills as defensive, and say the upgrades in training and planning are necessary to cope with the North’s evolving nuclear threat.

“We solemnly declare that if they attempt military confrontation as now, the exercise of our state’s armed forces will go beyond the scope of the right to defense for the United States of America and (South Korea),” Kang said, repeating previous North Korean threats of nuclear conflict.

“The U.S. imperialists have no room of choice of survival in case they use nuclear weapons against the DPRK,” he said, using the initials of his country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Clouds over Pyongyang in recent days made it difficult for satellites to monitor preparations for the parade, which took place at night.

Satellite images showed what appeared to be a massing of people at the square at 1316 GMT (10:16 p.m. local) Thursday, said Dave Schmerler, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, which is part of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

North Korea’s invitation of Russian and Chinese delegates was a rare diplomatic opening since the start of the pandemic. Experts say Kim is trying to break out of diplomatic isolation and boost the visibility of his partnership with authoritarian allies to counter pressure from the United States.

The parade followed meetings between Kim and Shoigu in Pyongyang this week that demonstrated North Korea’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and added to suspicions the North was willing to supply arms to Russia, whose war efforts have been compromised by defense procurement and inventory problems.

On Thursday, KCNA published a letter by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who thanked Kim for North Korea’s “firm support” of his war efforts in Ukraine. Putin said that interests between Moscow and Pyongyang were aligning as they counter the “policy of the Western group which hinders the establishment of the truly multi-polarized and just world order.”

Kim also held a luncheon and dinner banquet for Shoigu and his delegation following a second day of talks about expanding the countries’ “strategic and tactical collaboration and cooperation” in defense and security, KCNA said.

“Given Russia’s need for ammunition for its illegal war in Ukraine and Kim Jong Un’s willingness to personally give the Russian defense minister a tour of North Korea’s arms exhibition, U.N. member states should increase vigilance for observing and penalizing sanctions violations,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

He added: “China’s representation at North Korea’s parading of nuclear-capable missiles raises serious questions about Beijing enabling Pyongyang’s threats to global security.”

The parade capped off the North Korean festivities for the 70th anniversary of the armistice that stopped fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea, which triggered the war with a surprise attack on the South in June 1950, was supported by Chinese troops and the then-Soviet air force. South Korea, the United States and troops from other nations under the aegis of the U.N. fought to push back the invasion.

The July 1953 truce was never replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war, but the North still sees it as a victory in the “Grand Fatherland Liberation War.”

The anniversary events were more somber in South Korea, where President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a war cemetery in the city of Busan to honor the foreign troops who died while fighting for the South during the war.

In the face of growing North Korean threats, Yoon has pushed to expand South Korea’s military exercises with Washington and is seeking stronger U.S. reassurances that it would use its nuclear capabilities to defend the South in the event of a nuclear attack.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also marked the anniversary with a statement expressing concern over what he described as a growing “nuclear risk” on the Korean Peninsula.

“I urge the parties to resume regular diplomatic contacts and nurture an environment conducive to dialogue,” he said.

Sierra Leone and neighbors to fight piracy in the Gulf of Guinea after a Chinese ship was hijacked

By Kemo Cham, FREETOWN, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone said Thursday it is working with neighboring countries to step up the fight against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea after a Chinese fishing vessel was hijacked in its waters earlier this week.

The area off the coast of West Africa is one of the world’s most dangerous places for attacks on ships.

Twenty-three crew members on board Shenghai-2, including six Chinese nationals, were rescued a day after the hijacking on Sunday. The ship was sailing with another fishing vessel, Aliman, when both came under attack by heavily armed pirates, Sierra Leone’s Navy Chief Commodore Philip Juana told The Associated Press.

Aliman evaded seizure while the attackers sailed the hijacked vessel toward neighboring Liberia. The following day, the ship was freed and some of the pirates were caught by Liberian forces, Juana said.

“We are looking at how to curb the menace in the region,” he added. Sierra Leone officials will engage with counterparts in Liberia on future “operational strategy” against piracy, he added.

In June last year, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning piracy, armed robbery and hostage-taking in the Gulf of Guinea. The area has recorded at least three pirate attacks in recent months, including in April, when pirates targeted a Chinese-run oil tanker.

In Liberia, the Ministry of National Defense said in an earlier statement the rescue effort lasted for more than 24 hours and ended on Monday. It included a coordinated operation that also involved the neighboring Cote d’Ivoire.

Two pirates were arrested while some weapons were recovered, the ministry said. An unspecified number of other pirates who were involved in the attack has evaded arrest.

Juana, the navy chief, said Sierra Leone and Liberia are investigating the hijacking.

Niger coup supporters set fire in ruling part's

By Tchima Illa Issoufou & Lucy Fleming, NIAMEY Niger

Supporters of a coup in Niger have attacked the headquarters of the ousted president's party, setting it on fire and stoning and burning cars outside.

The small group of arsonists had broken away from a larger show of support for the coup leaders outside parliament, where Russian flags were on show.

The army has now given its backing to the troops who took President Mohamed Bazoum captive on Wednesday.

Russia joined other countries and the UN in calling for Mr Bazoum's release.

The 64-year-old, who was elected as Niger's president two years ago, is a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in West Africa.

The US and France, the former colonial power, both have military bases in the uranium-rich country - and have condemned the coup.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called up Mr Bazoum promising Washington's "unwavering support".

Mr Bazoum took to Twitter on Thursday morning to issue a defiant statement: "The hard-won achievements will be safeguarded. All Nigeriens who love democracy and freedom will see to it."

His foreign minister has also been trying to rally support and urge dialogue, but the army chief of staff said he was backing the takeover to avoid fighting within the armed forces.

It remains unclear who is really in charge of Niger as the junta has not announced its leader.

State TV has been repeating the late-night coup announcement interspersed with patriot music and Quranic verses - and its usual lunchtime news bulletin was not aired.

But in the capital, Niamey, shops and markets opened for business and after delays due to heavy rain early in the morning, coup supporters took to the streets.

The hundreds who gathered outside the National Assembly had some Russian flags, while others held up hand-written signs saying: "Down with France" and "Foreign bases out".

Putin promises free grain for 6 poor African countries

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin told African leaders in St Petersburg on Thursday that Russia would send up to 50,000 tons of grain for free to six African countries.

"In the coming months, we will be able to ensure free supplies of 25,000 to 50,000 tons of grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Central African Republic and Eritrea," he said in a speech opening the Russia-Africa summit.

"I have already said that our country can replace Ukrainian grain, both on a commercial basis and as grant aid to the neediest African countries, more so since we expect another record harvest this year," he added.

The announcement comes after Russia last week halted a deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to move from Black Sea ports to countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Both Russia and Ukraine are important global suppliers of barley, wheat, corn, sunflower oil and other food products that many developing countries rely on. 

The export of these supplies was interrupted after Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year, sending food prices soaring and sparking concerns about food security and global hunger.

The now-collapsed Black Sea grain deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey in mid-2022, allowed nearly 33 million tons of Ukrainian grain to be exported despite the war.

Putin told the summit that Russia was expecting a record grain harvest this year and was ready to replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa.

He also responded to Western criticism of Russia's decision to quit the grain deal, saying that most of the grain that had been exported under the agreement had gone to high-income or above-average income countries, including states in the EU.

Putin also blamed Western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine for preventing Russia from providing free fertilizers to poor countries.

"A paradoxical picture is emerging. On the one hand, Western countries are obstructing supplies of our grain and fertilisers (via sanctions), while on the other they hypocritically blame us for the current crisis situation on the world food market," said Putin.

Russia blames west for small number of leaders at Russia-Africa summit

MOSCOW, Russia

Moscow’s war in Ukraine and its exit from a UN-brokered grain deal will loom over this week’s Russia-Africa summit, as Vladimir Putin tries to woo African leaders seeking economic relief amid signs the Kremlin may be ready to seriously address peace talks with Kyiv.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that just 17 African heads of state would be attending.

This is far fewer than at its 2019 conference or at similar summits held elsewhere, including a meeting in December with Joe Biden that dozens of African leaders flew to Washington DC to attend.

In an effort to exert Russia’s influence in Africa, the Kremlin claimed on Wednesday the St Petersburg summit was being undercut by western powers as it sought out diplomatic allies in its standoff over Ukraine.

Asked about the low number of attenders, Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said: “This is absolutely blatant, brazen interference by the United States, France and other states through their diplomatic missions in African countries and their attempts to put pressure on the leadership of these countries in order to prevent their active participation in the forum.”

Under sanctions from much of the western world and driven into isolation, Russia has emphasised its plans to court the global south, claiming the country’s future lies in Asia and Africa, where projected growth will present extraordinary economic opportunities.

But Putin’s promises in 2019 to increase trade with Africa to $40bn (£31bn) a year have come up far short. Russia’s economic influence in African countries is still dwarfed by other powers such as China and is being hampered by new western sanctions.

Alexandra Prokopenko, a scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, said she did not expect a breakthrough for the Kremlin at the summit.

“In Russia there is no clear strategy toward Africa or speaking more broadly toward the global south. It’s more situational: we’re not friends with the west any more, so we’ll look to the east,” she said, adding: “And there is a very bad vibe because of the grain deal.”

Russia’s military is targeting grain infrastructure at Ukrainian port cities, after its decision to pull out from a UN- brokered deal that allowed the export of grain and other products from Ukraine through the Black Sea to markets, many of them in Africa. The deal was devised to alleviate soaring global food prices, and Russia blamed its collapse on the west blocking Russian exports of grain and fertilisers.

Nonetheless, some African leaders, facing extraordinary pressures at home and fearing a possible civil backlash cause by rising grain prices, have spoken out angrily over Russia’s exit from the deal.

In a tweet last week, Korir Sing’Oei, the head of Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry, said: “The decision by Russia to exit the Black Sea grain initiative is a stab on the back at global food security prices and disproportionately impacts countries in the Horn of Africa already impacted by drought.”

In terms of tangibles, Russia is likely to focus on food and fuel security in Africa and a range of other niche services that can entice African elites to maintain closer ties to Moscow.

Pauline Bax, the deputy director of the Africa programme at the International Crisis Group thinktank, said: “Grain and fuel supplies will be the main talking points at the summit, Moscow doesn’t have much else to offer. It looks like Putin will give some promises on grain supplies after he withdrew from the deal.”

Cameron Hudson, a senior associate for the Africa programme of the Washington-based CSIS thinktank, also said he expected Moscow to announce bilateral grain offers in an effort to assuage the pressure on African leaders and also to find markets for Russia’s stranded products.

Putin has suggested a scheme to have Qatar pay to ship the grain to Turkey, where it could later be sent on to poorer African countries. However, it is unclear whether the intermediary countries would agree.

Some leaders such as South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, will come to the summit seeking to revive a peace initiative they have previously delivered to both Putin and to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“We have seen African heads of state take a much more public stand on trying to put forward possible peace plans,” said Hudson, noting the serious economic pressures on African countries brought on by the war and sanctions. “They’re going to come to this conference looking not just for lip service, but to be taken seriously by Putin.”

Hudson said it was “really make or break for Putin” because there could still be anger after his rejection of a deal proposed by African leaders during a summit in Moscow last month. “He essentially patted them on their heads and sent them home and said you don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t think that sat particularly well with those heads of state … there could be some difficult conversations,” Hudson said.

Nonetheless, Russia did have advantages in Africa, said Hudson, including a long history of wooing local elites and a popular message in portraying Moscow as an anti-imperialist force resisting the west, despite Russia’s own imperialist history.

Unlikely to be discussed publicly is the role of the Wagner mercenary group, which is most active in Central African Republic, Libya, Mali and Sudan. The group is popular with some leaders because it can be wielded flexibly with little oversight, including for its brutal methods. The Kremlin has pledged that it will not reduce Wagner’s activities in Africa even after the mercenary group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched an abortive mutiny in Russia last month.

Before the summit, Prigozhin gave a rare live interview with the pro-Kremlin television channel Afrique Média, which targets French-speaking African countries. “There was no, and there will be no, reduction in our programmes in Africa,” he said.

Those interests are likely to be overshadowed by economic concerns and the Kremlin still looks to be managing expectations before the diminished conference.

Ivan Kłyszcz, an expert on Russia-Africa relations at the ICDS thinktank in Tallinn, said: “While the summit is getting some attention in Russia, it looks like Russian officials are careful not to oversell it. Early signs indicate that the summit will be underwhelming and state media has been somewhat adjusting its framing of this event. They cannot sell it as big of a success as 2019.”

DR Congo beefs up security ahead of Francophone Games

KINSHASA, DR Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo has stepped up security in the capital, Kinshasa, amid concerns about the safety of athletes taking part in the International Francophone Games starting this week, the government said.

Around 4,500 additional police backed by state security agents have been deployed ahead of the event, said Isidor Kwanja, the game's coordinator.

Athletes will be personally escorted by the police and their accommodation has been fitted with surveillance cameras.

The lack of security in the city is the latest setback for organizers of the 10-day Jeux de la Francophonie, which had already been pushed back two years from 2021 to bring infrastructure up to international standards.

Authorities have scrambled to finish tracks, sports stadiums and accommodations in time for Friday's start date. Some participants have also voiced concerns about safety in Kinshasa, where petty crime, muggings and kidnappings for ransom are relatively common.

The murder of an opposition spokesman this month exacerbated doubts over authorities' ability to secure the games.

Both Canada's Quebec and Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia have cut back on athletes.

Around 3,000 athletes from more than 40 countries will take part in the games, which are held every four years with the aim of promoting the French language.

ECOWAS: Over 1,800 terrorist attacks in West Africa this year

UNITED NATIONS, USA

West Africa recorded over 1,800 terrorist attacks in the first six months of the year resulting in nearly 4,600 deaths and dire humanitarian consequences, a top regional official said Tuesday, calling the figures only “a snippet of the horrendous impact of insecurity.”

The president of West African regional bloc ECOWAS Omar Alieu Touray - courtesy 

Omar Touray told the U.N. Security Council that half a million people in the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, are refugees and nearly 6.2 million are internally displaced. If there isn’t an adequate international response to the 30 million people ECOWAS assesses need food right now, he said, the number of people in need will increase to 42 million by the end of next month.

Touray, who is president of the ECOWAS Commission, singled out the following drivers of insecurity in the region: terrorism, armed rebellion, organized crime, unconstitutional changes of government, illegal maritime activities, environmental crises and fake news.

He said the region is worried about the resurgence of the military, with three countries – Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea – under military rule.

“The reversal of democratic gains runs parallel to insecurity that West Africa and the Sahel have been facing for some time now,” he said, and insecurity continues to inflict pain and suffering on millions of people.

For example, Touray said, the 4,593 deaths in terrorist attacks between January and June 30 include 2,725 in Burkina Faso, 844 in Mali, 77 in Niger and 70 in Nigeria. He added that terrorist attacks in Benin and Togo which have coastlines on the Atlantic Ocean are a “stark indication of the expansion of terrorism to littoral states, a situation that poses additional threat to the region.”

Touray said there have been a multiplicity of initiatives to tackle terrorism and insecurity which have had an impact on the ground, but there is a lack of coordination, and ECOWAS wants to integrate the various initiatives into a regional plan of action.

ECOWAS military chiefs of staff have held consultations to strengthen a regional standby force “in a manner that will enable it to support member states in the fight against terrorism and against threats to constitutional order,” he said.

Touray said the military chiefs proposed two options, establishing a 5,000-strong brigade at an annual cost of $2.3 billion or deployment of troops on demand at an annual cost of $360 million.

He reiterated the African Union’s request for African peace operations to receive funding from the U.N. regular budget, to which all 193 U.N. member states contribute.

Touray said the military staff recommendations were made before Mali’s military junta demanded that the more than 15,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in the country leave, which was followed by the Security Council's unanimous vote on June 30 to immediately end the mission. Mali has brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to help fight an Islamic insurgency.

Touray told the council that ECOWAS leaders “have reflected on the possible adverse impact of the withdrawal on the region and have decided to convene an extraordinary session on peace and security by the end of August.” Ahead of that meeting, he said, Benin’s president will visit Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea and press for “an expeditious return to constitutional order.”

The Security Council was also briefed by the new head of the U.N. office for West Africa, Leonardo Santos Simão, who said the security situation in the central Sahel, especially the border region of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, “has deteriorated further, with multiple attacks against civilians and defense and security forces” and urged support.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council “the United States remains gravely concerned by democratic backsliding across the region”and accused the Wagner Group of “committing human rights abuses and endangering the safety and security of civilians, peacekeepers and U.N. personnel.”

Russia’s deputy ambassador Anna Evstigneeva called the security situation in West Africa and the Sahel “difficult,” pointing to increased activity by fighters from the Islamic State extremist group, subversive activities by Boko Haram, and the spread of terrorist activity to coastal West African countries.

Ghana votes to abolish the death penalty

By Francis Kokutse, ACCRA Ghana

Ghana’s parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except high treason, formalizing what has been a de facto moratorium on executions for the past three decades.

Lawmakers endorsed the proposed amendment to the country’s criminal offense law during a televised session of parliament on Tuesday, in a vote praised by rights advocates. The measure goes now to the president who is expected to sign the bill into law.

Under the change, the sentences of 176 death row inmates, including six women would be commuted to life imprisonment.

“Ghana is upholding the constitutional and fundamental human right of everyone,” said Enoch Jengre, program officer of Ghana’s Legal Resource Center. “No human being or institution should have the right to take the life of another.”

Capital punishment is becoming less common on the African continent. According to the advocacy group World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, 26 African countries had outlawed the practice outright, while Ghana and 14 others had all but stopped executions, as of 2022.

Ghana’s last state execution was in 1993.

“By and large the general populace have accepted that (the death penalty) may not be useful,” said Accra-based criminal lawyer Francis Gasu. The lawyer said judicial errors are too common, and police investigations are too flawed, to stand by the practice.

While abolishing the death penalty is popular among human rights groups and legal experts, not everyone in Ghana believes it should end. “It is going to encourage some people to engage in crime knowing that they will only end up in prison after conviction,” said Raymond Kuudaah, a social worker in Accra. - Africa

Mutinous soldiers claim to have overthrown Niger's president

NIAMEY, Niger

Mutinous soldiers claimed to have overthrown Niger's democratically elected president, announcing on state television late Wednesday that they have put an end to the government over the African country's deteriorating security.

The soldiers said all institutions had been suspended and security forces were managing the situation. The mutineers urged external partners not to interfere.

The announcement came after a day of uncertainty as members of Niger’s presidential guard surrounded the presidential palace and detained President Mohamed Bazoum. There was no immediate indication of whether the mutiny was supported by other parts of the military. It was unclear where the president was at the time of the announcement or if he had resigned.

“This is as a result of the continuing degradation of the security situation, the bad economic and social governance," air force Col. Major Amadou Abdramane said on the video. Seated at a table in front of nine other officers, he said aerial and land borders were closed and a curfew was imposed until the situation stabilized.

ALSO READ: Niger coup attempt: President Mohamed Bazoum held

The group, which is calling itself National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, said it remained committed to its engagements with the international and national community.

Earlier Wednesday, a tweet from the account of Niger’s presidency reported that members of the elite guard unit engaged in an “anti-Republican demonstration” and unsuccessfully tried to obtain support from other security forces. It said Bazoum and his family were doing well but that Niger’s army and national guard “are ready to attack” if those involved in the action did not back down.

The commissions of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States described the events as an effort to unseat Bazoum, who was elected president two years ago in the nation’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960.

Before the announcement, hundreds of people took to the streets of the capital, Niamey, and chanted “No coup d’etat” while marching in support of the president. Multiple rounds of gunfire that appeared to come from the presidential palace dispersed the demonstrators and sent people scrambling for cover.

The international community strongly condemned the attempted seizure of power.

Russia to seek deeper alliance with Africa

MOSCOW, Russia

Russia is readying itself to make deeper friends with Africa as the West continues to shun Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine last year in February. And some of the African leaders are skipping the event, maintaining what has been Africa’s classic stance on the conflict: neutrality.

The Second Russia-Africa Summit has come four years after the first, largely due to Covid-19. But it has come amid a new geopolitical perspective including Western sanctions on Russia government departments, officials and entities with ties to the government owing to the war.

"Yet a preliminary programme released ahead of the meeting on July 27 shows the topics will be based on Moscow’s ties with African countries and businesses to do. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to address a plenary session at the Summit and will reportedly describe the state of and prospects for developing the full range of ties between Russia and African nations in the political, economic and humanitarian areas,” according to the Kremlin.

The participants, including African Presidents such as South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa and Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will join in a final declaration of the summit which will dictate the future of ties.

"Russian and African officials, businesspeople and public figures have been invited to attend the session. The Russian President has plans to meet with the heads of African regional organisations," the Kremlin added in a Telegram channel on Monday.

Vladimir Putin and the leaders of a number of African states will continue to discuss possible ways of settling the situation around Ukraine within the African Peace Initiative, which they launched in St Petersburg in June.

The President of Russia will hold bilateral conversations with all heads of African states taking part in the summit.

The Kremlin has not publicised the list of confirmed participants, but the number is expected to be lower for heads of state this time than in 2019, which reported 43. One is the pressure applied from the West on some of the African leaders may contributed to them staying away or sending representatives. Russia’s isolation also means a headache for travel plans especially in airspace clearances if overflying European countries backing the sanctions.

In 2019, Putin promised to double Russian trade with Africa in five years to $40 billion. This time, the Summit has adopted a humanitarian segment which will be held alongside one on business.

Participants will discuss issues like ‘Partnership for Food Sovereignty’ to be addressed by Konstantin Babkin, President of the Rosspetsmash Association and President of the New Commonwealth Industrial Union. Others include Andrey Guryev, the President of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers (RAFP), Boris Listov, Chairman of the Management Board of the Russian Agricultural Bank, and Benedict Okey Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank), a programme brochure showed on Tuesday.

Russia argues Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world in terms of food security, despite agriculture employing more than 60 percent of its labour force.

“The only way to solve this problem is to achieve food sovereignty. This is a realistic possibility due to the continent's immense agricultural potential,” the programme added. 

In a commentary on Monday, Putin had said he will use the Summit “shape a non-discriminatory agenda for cooperation.” Russia, he argued, has consistently supported Africa to rid itself of the yoke of colonialism and oppression.

“We understand the importance of uninterrupted food supplies for the socio-economic development and political stability of the African States. Notwithstanding the sanctions, Russia will continue itsenergetic efforts to provide supplies of grain, food products, fertilizers, and other goods to Africa,” he wrote. - Africa

Niger coup attempt: President Mohamed Bazoum held

By Sam Mednick, NIAMEY Niger 

Members of Niger’s presidential guard surrounded the presidential palace Wednesday in what African organizations called an attempted coup against the country’s democratically elected leader. The U.S. said the rebelling soldiers had detained President Mohamed Bazoum. 

A tweet from the account of Niger’s presidency reported that members of the elite guard unit engaged in an “anti-Republican demonstration” and unsuccessfully tried to obtain support from other security forces. 

It said Bazoum and his family were doing well but that Niger’s army and national guard “are ready to attack” if those involved in the action did not back down.

However, the commissions of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States described the events in Niger’s capital as an effort to unseat Bazoum, who was elected president two years ago in the nation’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960.

The governments of France and the United States also voiced concern and urged the participating guardsmen to change course. Bazoum’s administration has made Niger a key Western partner in the fight against Islamist extremism in Africa’s Sahel region.

We strongly condemn any effort to detain or subvert the functioning of Niger’s democratically elected government, led by President Bazoum,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. “We specifically urge elements of the presidential guard to release President Bazoum from detention and refrain from violence.”

Streets surrounding the presidential palace in the capital, Niamey, were blocked off Wednesday, as were some government ministries. In the early evening, hundreds of people chanting “No coup d’etat” marched in support of the president. 

Multiple rounds of gunfire that appeared to come from the presidential palace dispersed the demonstrators and sent people scrambling for cover, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene..

We are here to show the people that we are not happy about this movement going on; just to show these military people that they can’t just take the power like this,” protester Mohammed Sidi said. “We are a democratic country, we support democracy and we don’t need this kind of movement.”

Someone close to the president who wasn’t authorized to speak to the media told the AP the presidential guard surrounded Bazoum’s house when he and his wife were inside on Wednesday morning and that negotiations were underway between the parties.

Within hours, there was a military buildup outside the headquarters of the state radio and television networks. Pickup trucks mounted with machine guns lined the roads to both buildings, with members of the army and national guard waving cars through.

The streets of Niamey were bustling as usual, with many residents refusing to discuss the situation until there was more clarity. 

Some international security forces in the country were ordered put on lockdown. The United Nations said its 1,500 staff members in Niger were safe but had to suspend their regular work.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “calls on all actors involved to exercise restraint and to ensure the protection of constitutional order,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Threats to Bazoum’s leadership would undermine the West’s efforts to stabilize Africa’s Sahel region. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Niger in March, seeking to strengthen ties with a country where extremists have carried out attacks on civilians and military personnel but the overall security situation was not as dire as in neighboring nations.

Mali and Burkina Faso have had four coups since 2020, and both are being overrun by extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Mercenaries from the Russian military company also have deployed in those countries.“

Niger and President Bazoum has been the West’s only hope on the Sahel region to contain jihadists and Russia’s rising influence,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. 

“Western countries have been showering Niger with aid programs, from military to development cooperation. Even if Bazoum survives this, the reputation of Niger among Western policymakers as a stability anchor for the Sahel is damaged.”i

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who was selected this month as the ECOWAS Commission’s chairman, said the regional bloc’s leadership would resist any attempt to unseat Niger’s government.

"It should be quite clear to all players in the Republic of Niger that the leadership of the ECOWAS region and all lovers of democracy around the world will not tolerate any situation that incapacitates the democratically elected government of the country,” Tinubu said in a statement he issued in Abuja. “We will do everything within our powers to ensure democracy is firmly planted, nurtured, well rooted and thrives in our region.”

After meeting with Tinubu in Abuja, President Patrice Talon of Benin left for Niger as part of ECOWAS-led mediation efforts. “I believe that all means will be used, if necessary, to restore constitutional order in Niger, but the ideal would be for everything to happen in peace and harmony,” Talon said.

The African Union also called on Nigeriens and Africans to “join their voices in unanimous condemnation of this coup attempt, and for the immediate and unconditional return of the felon soldiers to their barracks.”

Security analysts said another coup attempt would worsen regional instability.

The repeated coups in the Sahel signaled the beginning of a new era: an era of militaries being in control, and the end of what it was a hopeful democracy,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank. 

“As we are seeing in Burkina Faso and Mali, coups did not really address security issues, which was the justification of these coups.”

Military coups are simply bad and send countries concerned backward rather than forward toward stability and (a) prosperous future,” Lyammouri said.

Russia-Africa summit: What Vladmir Putin stands to gain

By The Conversation

Forty-three African heads of state attended the 2019 Russia-Africa summit. They had high hopes that Russia would emerge as a new source of investment and trade for the continent. Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to double Russian trade with Africa in five years to US$40 billion.

Since then, Russian trade with the continent has contracted to US$14 billion. It is lopsided, with Russia exporting seven times as much as it imports from Africa. Additionally, 70% of this trade is concentrated in just four countries: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and South Africa.

Russia invests very little in Africa. It accounts for 1% of the foreign direct investment that goes to the continent. Mauritius is a larger source of foreign direct investment for Africa. Additionally, Russia’s gross domestic product has shrunk in value from US$2.3 trillion in 2013 to US$1.8 trillion in 2021.

Despite these diminishing economic ties, Russia’s influence in Africa has rapidly expanded since 2019. It has deployed troops to the continent and become the dominant external partner in a handful of countries. Russian disinformation campaigns in at least 16 African countries are shaping the information environment on the continent.

This has largely been achieved through irregular means. These include propping up isolated, autocratic regimes through a combination of the deployment of Wagner paramilitary forces, electoral interference, disinformation and arms-for-resources deals.

Each of these tactics is destabilising for the host country.

Predictably, half of the two dozen African countries where Russia has been actively plying its influence are in conflict. Russia has similarly undermined UN operations in African countries where Moscow is vying for influence, further compounding instability.

ALSO READ: Ukraine conflict looms over Russia-Africa summit

Despite Russia’s increasingly aggressive policies on the continent and internationally, roughly the same number of African heads of state are expected to participate in this year’s St Petersburg summit as in 2019.

More significant than any commercial deals announced are the political and financial benefits Russian and African elites are expecting to gain.

Having closely followed Russia’s disruptive interventions in Africa for many years, the main losers will be ordinary citizens who will pay for these exclusive partnerships – through higher taxes, greater instability and less freedom.

The Russia-Africa summit has obvious benefits for Moscow. It conveys a perception of normalcy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an International Criminal Court war crimes arrest warrant for Putin and the aborted insurrection led by Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

While Russian-African economic ties are modest, the continent provides Russia with a global stage from which Moscow can puff up its geostrategic posture. Africa matters more to Russia than Russia does to Africa.

Given Russia’s track record of destabilisation on the continent since 2019, it begs the question why African leaders would even consider attending the St Petersburg summit.

Security has deteriorated in every African country where Wagner has been deployed, while human rights abuses have surged. Local communities have been intimidated into leaving their homes where Wagner has been given mining access, effectively annexing these territories.

Moscow curries favour with some of these regimes by providing protection from international sanctions for human rights violations or for violating democratic practices. Unsurprisingly, the African countries where Russia is most involved have median democracy scores of 19. The African democracy median is 51 on Freedom House’s 100-point scale.

The summit is a chance to show it’s business as usual for Russia. And that Russia is not a pariah, but enjoys the implicit endorsement of its violations of international law by African heads of state.

Russia will likely use this year’s summit to falsely claim that western sanctions are limiting the export of Russian (and Ukrainian) food and fertiliser to Africa, distracting attention from Russia’s culpability for triggering the disruption in global grain supplies.

The summit also highlights the increasing importance of Africa to Russian foreign policy. Africa remains the continent most welcoming of Russian engagement. It’s also the least willing to criticise Moscow for its land grab in Ukraine. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has made at least eight visits to Africa since Russia launched its attack in March 2022.

Anaemic investment, normalising autocracy, fomenting instability and intervening in African domestic politics doesn’t sound like a winning strategy for building a long-term partnership.

It’s one thing to take a non-aligned posture on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which may seem like a far-off conflict. But why would African leaders continue to engage with a foreign actor with an active record of undermining stability on the continent?

A clear-eyed assessment of national interests isn’t compelling. The instability caused by Russia’s irregular tactics threatens to spill across borders and is creating crises of sovereignty on the continent.

The upending of the rule of law is simultaneously damaging the continent’s budding reputation as a reliable destination for investment and international partnerships.

Russia’s influence operations are nearly always aimed at helping incumbent (typically autocratic) regimes retain power. Opaque mining and arms deals are frequently part of the package. African leaders benefiting from these tactics welcome Moscow’s overtures.

Other African leaders see engaging with Russia as a tactic to get more support from the west.

A minority may naively see their participation as a genuine opportunity to gain more Russian investment or encourage more constructive Russian engagement. Expected announcements of mining, energy, grain, transport and digitisation deals at the summit will provide a justifying fig leaf to all attendees. Even if such plans never materialise.

The reality is that Russia’s strategy of elite co-option is widening the gap between African leaders’ and citizens’ interests. Citizens regularly say they want more democracy, job creation and upholding of the rule of law. Russian engagements on the continent are undermining all three.

The “interests’ gap” between African leaders and citizens points to another takeaway from the summit: most African political leaders won’t be championing reforms on citizen priorities for better governance, development and security. Rather, leadership on these interests will need to come from African civil society, media and independent judiciaries.

Moscow is sure to use this year’s gathering in St Petersburg to conjure up the imagery of shared Russian and African interests. The key question for African citizens to ask is: whose interests are being served?