The Russia-Africa summit in 2019 was attended by delegates from all African states and among them were 45 Heads of State. Many Africans are in favour of Russia and during the recent coups in Mali and Burkina Faso many local people welcomed Russia as a saviour. Lavrov was clearly welcome there, and Lavrov’s message in a newspaper article that appeared in African local newspapers is interesting to read. Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia was meant to thank Africa for its support in the UN, and to diminish fears of a food disaster as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war: both Russia and Ukraine have become important suppliers of grain to many countries in Africa (see my earlier blog and listen to this podcast). This was announced during the four-African-countries visit of Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lavrov in July 2022. A planned second summit was postponed from October/November 2022 (in Addis Ababa) to 2023 (in Russia). The divide in Africa between pro-Russian and pro-Western countries partly follows the earlier Cold War fault lines, with some interesting deviations.Ī first Russia-Africa Summit took place in 2019 (in Sochi). Particularly from 2016 onwards, Russia has built up strong relationships with quite a lot of African countries and their leadership.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |