By Nicodemus Minde.
idea of Africa as a global balancing power is entrenched in the notion of the balance of power, which in stricter terms refers to the distribution of power among states as the major actors in international relations in order to prevent any one state from becoming more dominant as the sole hegemon, writes Nicodemus Minde.
With Russia’s recent diplomatic charm offensive in Africa, some have argued that Africa is at the centre of a new Cold War while others have called it the new scramble for Africa. Coupled with China’s foothold in the continent in the past decade, it is increasingly becoming clear that Africa is at the centre of a geopolitical contest.
Over the past few years, great powers such as China, Japan and now Russia have increased their engagement with Africa. Mid-range powers such as Turkey, South Korea, India, and Brazil have also taken a keen interest in investment and trade with Africa in the past decade. Amid a lull in Western engagement with the continent, big powers and mid-range powers have increased their reengagement with Africa. There is no doubt that there is a tectonic shift in global realignments. Global events such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the rise of populist leaders and the retreat in democracy have seen interesting global shifts in alliances. While much attention has been placed on the global West’s reshaping of geopolitics, there is little attention on Africa’s agency in these new global shifts. Over the past decade, there has been a rise in summit diplomacy between the big powers and Africa. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the Tokyo International Conferences on African Development (TICAD), and US-Africa Summit in what has been termed as Africa+1 summit demonstrate that Africa has become an important geopolitical actor. Africa and African leaders can utilise the summit diplomacy and needs to leverage its newfound centrality in global power play.
Shifts in narratives: Not business as usual
In December 2022, the US President invited African leaders to Washington for the US-Africa Summit. The summit was framed as a reaction to China’s growing influence in the continent. African leaders went to the summit with an African agenda emphasising that the era of African leaders been lectured by the West was over. From the meeting in Washington, African leaders demanded a country-specific approach to the discussion with the US; something the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken acknowledged during a visit to South Africa in August 2022. China and now Russia are changing the approach as they engage with Africa. There is now a renewed focus on true and mutual partnership.
In 2019, the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi was used to reset Russia’s recent engagement with Africa.
The Sochi Declaration of 2019 pledged to cooperate in areas such as politics, economics, security, the environment, and science and technology. In the past year, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has visited several African countries. Lavrov has used the shuttle diplomacy in African capitals to build support ahead of the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg.
This article originally appeared at valdaiclub.com/