BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU

If the world were a simple place, one would have expected the small nations of Africa—some of which are emerging democracies—to rally behind Ukraine after Putin invaded its much smaller neighbor—another emergency democracy the size of Kenya, with a GDP lower than that of South Africa—for no other reasons than Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky’s wish to join the European Union and NATO. Instead, with their diverse responses like Southeast Asian nations, Africa overall took a dangerous position of so-called neutrality that is tantamount to rallying behind the aggressor, Russia, thereby being on the wrong side of history.

The United Nations’ reaction to the invasion of Ukraine was swift. On February 24, the same day Russia invaded Ukraine as the world had feared for weeks, the U.N. General Assembly held an emergency session that led to a resolution that labelled Russia’s invasion as an unlawful act of aggression “in violation of Article 2 (4) of the (United Nations) Charter,” demanding that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.” While 141 countries voted in favor of the resolution, 35 voted against it and 35 abstained. Twenty African countries—exactly 50% of Africa’s 54 nations, voted against the resolution.

Two days before the invasion, the two top leaders of Africa’s continental organization, Senegal’s president Macky Sall, chairman of the African Union, and the chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, called on Russia to “respect international law, [and] the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Ukraine.” Seen through the prism of the African vote on the U.N. resolution just two days later, The African Union’s statement was just empty words. President Macky Sall’s Senegal were among the African countries that abstained from voting for the resolution actually condemning Russia. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa squarely blamed NATO for the war.

Despite the pervasive reports about Africans being the victims of racism as they were repeatedly and ostensibly denied even the rights to board buses to go to safer locations like the white-skin refugees, African leaders didn’t really say much, or do anything concrete at first.  However, on February 28, the African Union denounced “the shocking racism” Africans were subjected to and called “on all countries to respect international law and show the same empathy and support to all people fleeing war notwithstanding their racial identity.”

Africa’s stance on the Ukraine war is a clear embrace of Vladimir Putin, a man dubbed delusional by some, who for years now has been using all kinds of means contrary to world order, democracy or moral values—including killing his political adversaries—to strengthen his grips on power. Africa has been caught in the net of the leader of this one-time world power now relegated to the level of second-grade superpower.

After the dismantling of the Soviet Union—of which Ukraine, the country that is now home to the largest nuclear plant in Europe—the USSR lost its status as the second superpower with the other entities that left the USSR. Upon the abrupt resignation on December 31, 1999 of Boris Yeltsin, the first president of the Russian federation, Vladmir Putin, then his Prime Minister, became acting president and went on to become duly-elected president. He promised to lead with terror and spared no effort—including shedding blood—to make that happen despite repeated opposition.

According to the World Population Review (an independent organization without political affiliations) the Russian Federation is still a superpower, based on the complex criteria that range from military might to economic strength, political influence, and cultural impact—but only third behind China. It’s no secret that despite the huge revenue it derives from oil sales, its economy is not among the world’s strongest. Russia is still feared as a nuclear power, but its army’s performance during the ongoing war with Ukraine raises questions. Despite superior numbers—allegedly 150,000 troops at the start—and formidable firepower, Russia has not achieved a breakthrough after three weeks of war, taking heavy casualties, unable to establish any meaningful off-road presence, and—most surprising—failing to achieve dominance in the air. All of which has allegedly forced the Kremlin to ask China for help.

Apparently for a combination of motives which, according to the experts’ estimates, range from sheer delusion, insecurity, or—most unlikely—the desire to leave a legacy, Putin engaged in a slew of actions on the world scale around 2014 when annexed Crimea, part of Ukraine. One of the most daring actions was his use of a bankrupt American businessman named Donald Trump as what the intelligence world calls “useful idiot” to meddle in the U.S. presidential election in 2016, among other things. Africa, a continent where the Soviet Union had built relationships during the Cold War, became one of the easy targets.

The Russia-Africa summit held in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi in 2019 was part of a process that started several years earlier to help Russia gain a foothold again in Africa after the Kremlin withdraw from the continent as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Africa is now a foreign policy priority. Putin said to his African peers on the occasion: “We are not going to participate in a new ‘repartition’ of the continent’s wealth. Rather, we are ready to engage in competition for cooperation with Africa.” Like music to the ears of African leaders, he promised unconditional cooperation; in other terms none of the political, environmental conditions and others usually imposed by Western countries, especially the United States. According to news reports, the summit opened a floodgate of billions of dollars in arms, agriculture, banking and agriculture deals to name only these.

Africa was shaken in the seventies and eighties by protracted civil wars—in Liberia, Angola, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere. Just two decades after those wars ended and the roots of democracy were planted in some of the countries in the region in the early 1990s, which spurred economic growth, militant Islamist extremism brought unrest again, with dozens innocent lives being lost when the Jihadists come out of their hiding places in the desert and strike. Initially, Jihadist movements operated only in the Sahel region, but they are now spreading their wings to the northern regions of costal countries like Benin and Togo. It is feared they can succeed in striking further south in densely populated areas. This insecurity nightmare for African leaders creates opportunities for Russia to sell arms and strengthen its presence there.

Russia’s return in Africa is dangerous for Africa and for the world. Putin’s use of disinformation campaign, trading arms for African resources, his ability to coop easily corruptible African leaders, interfere in elections, and a bunch of other horrible practices he’s known for, are bound to destabilize Africa and set it back in several ways for a long time.

The African masses and their civil societies are aware of these things. The abstention of 27 African countries during the U.N. resolution vote condemning Russia’s aggression in Ukraine triggered very vocal condemnations in some of the countries. The leaders’ rants about the scars of colonization (a way of going along with a Russia that has no colonization history) were not enough to convince anyone. Despite all the grudges Africans in French-speaking countries hold against their former colonial masters that they accuse of being the instigators of coups in their countries, most would rather be aligned with the West for the sake of democratic values and world order that are conducive to their wellbeing.

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Soumanou Salifou is the founder/publisher of The African, the premier African magazine published in the United States dating back to 1994. With a foot in Africa and the other in the United States, the pioneering magazine serves as a bridge between the United States and Africa with both online and print versions. It brings to the reader original reporting about U.S.-Africa relations in the areas of politics and business, with an emphasis on the historical and cultural bonds between Africa and Black America. Salifou, an award-winning reporter, majored in African studies and American civilization from several African universities, and is an alumnus of the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.