- Food shortages imminent
The new round of Russia – Ukraine military aggression again leaves Africa clearly undefined in several areas. Africa does not have much that can be referred to as ‘carrots’ to sway the decision of the West or even the east. Remaining in a position of weakness economically and militarily leaves the continent with no bargaining power. It does not have the pitch of a superpower, even jointly as the African Union (AU).
It cannot be argued that many African countries are members of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM), a body formed in the Cold War years in which countries neither identified with the Western block nor the Eastern hemisphere led by Russia.
Only Rwanda, after the genocidal war, remains a standing NAM member. Others are neither here nor there.
At the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in late February, Kenya was the only voice that condemned Russia’s military incursion in Ukraine. However, when it was time to vote against Russia to be suspended from the Human Right Council of the United Nations (UN), it chose to be non-committal; it abstained.
Liberia took a stand to vote against Russia’s military bullying against Ukraine. It remains the only country to do so. In that vote at the UN, many African countries, including South Africa and Nigeria abstained; they were undecided between the two: the invader and the invaded.
This posture runs contrary to The Preamble of the founding Act of the African Union (AU), which calls for “collective action in Africa and in our relation with the rest of the world.”
There is a clear disunity and holding the same position on the Russia-Ukraine war. A country like South Africa, which should be at the forefront of Human Rights advocacy, and rightly so, being beneficiary of the inputs of several countries to obtain freedom from white minority domination and oppression, stayed aloof.
The same cannot be said of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the present situation in Ukraine; though the Ukrainian President, Zelensky, is yet to push the country into the Organization. It rallied its member states to action for common good.
Africa, with a disjointed voice, will invariably get any kind of treatment from the developed West and the Neo colonialist east (Russia and China principally).
The continent has always been the raw material supplier to power the manufacturing plants of developed Nations beyond its geographical space. Rich in strategic minerals like gold, uranium and a host of others, and raw produce for agricultural production, these have not been turned to true pawns in the continent’s political chessboard.
The disjointed Africa response at the UN voting leaves a picture of “everyone to himself”, a position of weakness. Only recently,
Tanzania’s leader, President Samia Hassan woos French TotalEnergies and Dutch Shell to take advantage of the Russia Ukraine crisis to exploit the abundant natural gas reserves in her country.
The crisis in Ukraine is turning attention to other gas producing areas to meet the energy needs of European Nations. The Tanzania gas reserve is estimated to be the sixth largest in Africa. “… we have a deposit of about 57 trillion cubic feet”, President Hassan says.
In South Africa, local companies have invested about R77 billion or $5.13 billion in Russia as of 2022.
Diplomatic relations between both countries date back to 1942. There is an embassy of Russia in Pretoria and full Consulate in Cape Town. The same goes for South Africa in Moscow.
South Africa depends on Russia for copper, mineral fuels, oils and distillation products including fertilizers. While African countries trade with Russia, they also do the same with Ukraine on the other side. Items such as seed oils, corn, wheat and iron ore top the list.
Russia-Africa agricultural trade is estimated at about $4 billion in 2020. In a similar vein, Ukraine-Africa transactions amount to $2.9 billion in agricultural produce over the same period.
Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Algeria, Kenya and South Africa still make top places in imports from Russia. Since major parts of Africa’s challenge is survival from food shortages, every nation is fighting for stomach restructuring, call it adjustment if that’s preferred.
Remember the Arab Spring of years gone by that erupted as a result of bread shortages and hike in price of this staple grown outside the country? It is no wonder that Nations that are so food insecure as in Africa will be the disjointed in policy formulation and execution as one voice.
In spite of having massive arable land in the continent, failure of leadership in managing the agricultural potential of the continent exposes the weakness which could have which could be avoided
The new round of Russia – Ukraine military aggression again leaves Africa clearly undefined in several areas. Africa does not have much that can be referred to as ‘carrots’ to sway the decision of the West or even the east. Remaining in a position of weakness economically and militarily leaves the continent with no bargaining power. It does not have the pitch of a superpower, even jointly as the African Union (AU).
It cannot be argued that many African countries are members of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM), a body formed in the Cold War years in which countries neither identified with the Western block nor the Eastern hemisphere led by Russia.
Only Rwanda, after the genocidal war, remains a standing NAM member. Others are neither here nor there.
At the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in late February, Kenya was the only voice that condemned Russia’s military incursion in Ukraine. However, when it was time to vote against Russia to be suspended from the Human Right Council of the United Nations (UN), it chose to be non-committal; it abstained.
Liberia took a stand to vote against Russia’s military bullying against Ukraine. It remains the only country to do so. In that vote at the UN, many African countries, including South Africa and Nigeria abstained; they were undecided between the two: the invader and the invaded.
This posture runs contrary to The Preamble of the founding Act of the African Union (AU), which calls for “collective action in Africa and in our relation with the rest of the world.”
There is a clear disunity and holding the same position on the Russia-Ukraine war. A country like South Africa, which should be at the forefront of Human Rights advocacy, and rightly so, being beneficiary of the inputs of several countries to obtain freedom from white minority domination and oppression, stayed aloof.
The same cannot be said of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the present situation in Ukraine; though the Ukrainian President, Zelensky, is yet to push the country into the Organization. It rallied its member states to action for common good.
Africa, with a disjointed voice, will invariably get any kind of treatment from the developed West and the Neo colonialist east (Russia and China principally).
The continent has always been the raw material supplier to power the manufacturing plants of developed Nations beyond its geographical space. Rich in strategic minerals like gold, uranium and a host of others, and raw produce for agricultural production, these have not been turned to true pawns in the continent’s political chessboard.
The disjointed Africa response at the UN voting leaves a picture of “everyone to himself”, a position of weakness. Only recently,
Tanzania’s leader, President Samia Hassan woos French TotalEnergies and Dutch Shell to take advantage of the Russia Ukraine crisis to exploit the abundant natural gas reserves in her country.
The crisis in Ukraine is turning attention to other gas producing areas to meet the energy needs of European Nations. The Tanzania gas reserve is estimated to be the sixth largest in Africa. “… we have a deposit of about 57 trillion cubic feet”, President Hassan says.
In South Africa, local companies have invested about R77 billion or $5.13 billion in Russia as of 2022.
Diplomatic relations between both countries date back to 1942. There is an embassy of Russia in Pretoria and full Consulate in Cape Town. The same goes for South Africa in Moscow.
South Africa depends on Russia for copper, mineral fuels, oils and distillation products including fertilizers. While African countries trade with Russia, they also do the same with Ukraine on the other side. Items such as seed oils, corn, wheat and iron ore top the list.
Russia-Africa agricultural trade is estimated at about $4 billion in 2020. In a similar vein, Ukraine-Africa transactions amount to $2.9 billion in agricultural produce over the same period.
Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Algeria, Kenya and South Africa still make top places in imports from Russia. Since major parts of Africa’s challenge is survival from food shortages, every nation is fighting for stomach restructuring, call it adjustment if that’s preferred.
Remember the Arab Spring of years gone by that erupted as a result of bread shortages and hike in price of this staple grown outside the country? It is no wonder that Nations that are so food insecure as in Africa will be the disjointed in policy formulation and execution as one voice.
In spite of having massive arable land in the continent, failure of leadership in managing the agricultural potential of the continent exposes the weakness which could have which could be avoided