Back to Africa: US Beating Drums Over Russia’s New Geostrategic Pivot

After a long period of time, Russia is returning to Africa, bolstering economic, political and military ties with the continent, US expert Eugene Steinberg said; so, does it mean Russia will soon outpace the US in Africa?

According to Eugene Steinberg, an Assistant Editor at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Russia is determined to increase its involvement in Africa, making Moscow an important geopolitical player in the continent.

“From 1961 to 1992, one of Moscow’s most prestigious schools bore the name of Patrice Lumumba, the Soviet-supported Congolese independence leader brutally executed in 1961. Patrice Lumumba University recruited and educated generations of foreign leaders, especially African leaders, and was just one of the many ways in which the Soviet Union cultivated ties with Africa,” Steinberg noted.

Indeed, during the Soviet era the Kremlin paid much attention to its ties with the African continent, supporting Africa’s nations’ anticolonial independence movement and providing it with financial and military assistance.
Unfortunately, the collapse of the USSR ruined the established partnership.

“Russia’s presence in Africa, and Lumumba University, nearly disappeared overnight. But today, two decades later, Russia is once again working to establish a foothold on the continent,” the expert noted.

Africa has become Russia’s new pivot, Steinberg remarked adding that since the sanctions policy imposed by the West has constricted Russia’s trade with Europe, “Africa is becoming an increasingly attractive investment opportunity” for Moscow.

Remarkably, African states have demonstrated their willingness to seize export opportunities in Russia. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco have clearly shown that they want to cooperate with Russia and are ready to increase exports, especially agricultural products — fruits and vegetables — to Russia’s food market.

“While it still represents a very modest proportion of Russia’s total trade volume, Russian-African trade increased more than tenfold between 2000 and 2012. According to the African Development Bank, Russian companies invested some $20 billion in Africa last year in projects ranging from energy production and mining to infrastructure and fisheries,” the Atlantic Center’s Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham wrote in March, 2015…..More Here

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Back to Africa: US Beating Drums Over Russia’s New Geostrategic Pivot