Russia’s Great Power Status Extends to Africa

  By Henry Srebrnik, [Moncton, NB] Times & Transcript

Tales of Russia’s demise have circulated with remarkable consistency since the fall of the Soviet Union three decades ago. The successor state has often been written off as little more than a nuisance.

That’s just wishful thinking. Russia is, after all, heir to an old and enduring identity as a major player on the international stage. The country’s ruling class acts accordingly. And this compels Russia to act like a great power.

We can see this in Moscow’s activities in Africa. Russia has nearly tripled its arms exports there since the early 2000s, and Russian private military contractors have been instrumental in training the armies of various African regimes, securing lucrative commodity extraction rights in the process.

Sales to governments like Sudan’s have demonstrated that the Kremlin will not hesitate to supply arms to some of the world’s worst human rights abusers. In return, Russia has also gained access to a naval port in Sudan by the Red Sea. The 25-year agreement
will allow Russia to station four ships and at least 300 personnel at the base, giving it a strategic foothold in the Red Sea.

West African nations in the Sahel region have struggled to contain jihadist insurgencies by groups such as al-Qaida or the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). If the state fails to provide even minimal services in marginal areas, people will feel no loyalty and look elsewhere for authority and leadership.

At the same time, there is anger against France, the former colonial power and once the dominant player. During the early post-independence decades, France maintained a dense web of personal connections with African leaders and elites which too often slid into a mutual protection of vested interests.

 

So Russia has moved into the vacuum, displacing France. Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries are engaged in operations across the content, including Chad, Mali, South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zimbabwe. Russian mercenaries sometimes work for both sides in conflicts, selling arms and providing training, advisory, and protective services

 

In late April last year, Chadian rebels killed the country’s long-serving president, Idriss Déby, a close ally of France. The rebels’ unexpected victory lay in Libya, where they had trained alongside Russian Wagner mercenaries.

 

In the Central African Republic, the government has deployed Russian private military contractors to guard mining locations rich in deposits of diamonds, gold and uranium. The mercenaries are there to support President Faustin-Archange Touadéra in the fight against rebels who still control many parts of the country.

 

Burkina Faso has become a battleground against Islamist terrorism, with attacks becoming more frequent. Last November, a convoy of French troops heading north to support the fight against Islamist militants was repeatedly blockaded by protesters as it crossed Burkina Faso and Niger.

 

Explosions rocked a UN camp in Mali a few weeks later while another attack targeted an international military base in neighboring Niger that countries in the region use to fight insurgencies.

 

Mali recently announced it wanted to employ about 1,000 Wagner operatives to help provide security. This followed a French announcement that it would withdraw about half of its 5,000 troops from the country. Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said that interventions by the international community had not worked.

One member of the Malian armed forces told the French news agency AFP Jan. 7 that as many as 400 Russian military personnel could be stationed in the country. They were stationed in the northern city of Timbuktu to assist Malian forces. Many are happy for the Russians to replace them.

A military partnership between Mali and its neighbours to tackle jihadist groups in the region, the G5-Sahel, could come under strain.

Mali’s Prime Minister Choguel Maiga used a speech at the UN last September to accuse France of “abandoning his country in mid-flight” after President Emmanuel Macron began to scale back the deployment of troops in the country.

Russia is using insecurity and African countries’ diplomatic disputes with Western powers as a springboard to expand its presence in Africa. And its authoritarian example provides support for African leaders in search of alternatives to the western model of open economies and democratic multiparty political systems.