The Russians are coming to Africa
The Russians, who for the last two decades had forgotten that the world has a continent called Africa, are now waking up to join the vibrant club of opportunity grabbers on the continent led by the Chinese.
The neglect of Africa by post-Soviet Russia was an inherent result of a strategic policy designed to extend Moscow’s sphere of influence in Africa during the Cold War. That policy took advantage of the freedom struggles in Africa to bring weapons and economic aid but without building a solid foundation for long-term cooperation.
The rebirth of Russia came with severe internal problems that almost crippled Moscow, but thanks to state capitalism perpetuated by former President Vladimir Putin, today the country is breathing again at a time when the world is changing, with Africa emerging as the ultimate destination for resource-hungry emerging powers.
Russia, however, unlike other emerging economies such as China, is resource-rich, and that could be another explanation for the Kremlin’s apparent laxity in the new scramble for Africa. Indeed, Russia’s strategy to target Africa is not Kremlin-initiated, as was the case with the China’s Africa approach that originated from the Communist Party.
The architect of the whole Russian game is a non-government organisation known as the Coordinating Committee for Economic Cooperation with sub-Saharan Africa (AfroCom), which held the first Russian-African Inter-Parliamentary Conference from June 14 to 16 in Moscow.
When interviewed by the media, the deputy chairman of AfroCom, Mr Peter Fradkov, who doubles as the deputy chairman of Vnesheconombank, said that Russia was coming back to Africa and made it clear that it was neither chasing resources nor bringing labour.
But Mr Fradkov agrees that the Russian Government must do something to push the business community towards progressive economic partnerships and effective cooperation with Africa. He regrets that Russians are completely ignorant about Africa with history and language barriers making the matter even worse.
A Tanzanian geologist who has known Russians pr
Source – The Citizen