‘Echoes of the Cold War’ as Blinken heads to Africa, vying with Russia for influence

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in South Africa on Monday to begin a three-country tour as major powers jostle for influence on the continent.

The tour will also take the top U.S. diplomat to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and follows a recent tour by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia and the Republic of Congo in July.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently visited Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau in a bid to revitalize France’s relations with its former colonies.

The underlying purpose of the trip — Blinken’s second since President Joe Biden’s administration took office — will be to try to contain Russian and Chinese geopolitical influence on the continent, according to Alex Vines, director of the Africa program at Chatham House.

“South Africa is a country which doesn’t have a good relationship with the United States. The party of government, the African National Congress, regularly issues declaration communiques criticizing the United States, and so the effort there is how to improve the relationship and at least have a more constructive dialog with South Africa,” Vines told CNBC on Monday.

He suggested that this is the reason why South Africa is Blinken’s first port of call, and that particular attention will be paid to aligning the two countries’ perspectives on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“There’s a big difference between how Pretoria sees the Russia-Ukraine issue, and Washington,” Vines added.

Military ties

A number of African governments have been reluctant to overtly criticize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, and many abstained from a draft U.N. resolution in March condemning the Kremlin and calling for a withdrawal from Ukraine.

The resolution passed overwhelmingly with 141 nations voting in favor, but the African nations among the 34 that abstained from the vote were: South Africa, Mali, Mozambique, the Central African Republic, Angola, Algeria, Burundi, Madagascar, Namibia, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Over the past few years, Russia has built a number of military alliances with governments in African countries facing violent insurgencies or political instability, including Libya, Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic and Mozambique.

Russia’s Lavrov claimed that his tour of Africa was not about Ukraine. He instead focused on Africa’s “intrinsic value” to Russia as a trade partner and highlighted the contracts Moscow has on the continent for exports of food, fertilizers and energy. 

In a recent blog, the European Council on Foreign Relations said that while that message was tailored to African sensitivities, the primary objective of Lavrov’s trip was “political theater.” 

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/08/echoes-of-the-cold-war-as-blinken-heads-to-africa-vying-with-russia-for-influence.html