Power struggles on a global stage are relatively new. Multiple European nations started expanding their dominance in Asia and Africa in the 17th century.
The 20th century witnessed a dynamic shift in international politics owing to the first and the second world war. European powers like the UK and France faced diminished status and the US was able to rise as a superpower after all of this.
The current scenario in the 21st century suggests the rise of Asian powers like India and China to lead the global order. However, the 22nd century is widely believed to be the “African Century.”
Why do we say so? Well, the demography and the presence of significant untapped resources are going to do the majority of work for the continent. The world knows this and so do the two current superpowers- The US and Russia, but who exactly is winning the race?
The Biden administration has undone multiple achievements of the previous governments in Africa. Washington-sponsored war in Ukraine was responsible for creating a food crisis in Africa which motivated multiple leaders in the region to rethink their relationship with the United States.
China has also been trying to get into multiple nations of Africa through its BRI investments, however, China’s trend of influencing multiple nations in Asia namely Pakistan and Sri Lanka under its debt trap policy has alarmed the African states too.
Multiple states in Africa have downgraded Chinese involvement in their countries and are now focusing on nations like India and Russia.
Putin has picked up pace amid the recent political changes internationally. He saw through US’ attempts to reconcile relations with Africa and launched his counter to prevent that from happening.
Read More: As Biden made plans for his Africa outreach, Putin dispatched his top man to Africa
US President Joe Biden previously announced that the United States is going to bring together leaders from across the African continent for a major summit in Washington, DC. The main motive of the summit is to discuss pressing challenges from food security to climate change as per the White House. But this summit is planned for December, and we all know how late this is.
Immediately after the announcement of the Africa Summit by the US, Russia dispatched its top aid to Africa. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with senior officials of the Egyptian government of Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, a key ally of the United States in the region.
Furthermore, Russia’s state-owned energy corporation, Rosatom started construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant this week.
Nations like Ethiopia and Uganda have also started to shift their allegiance to Russia for multiple reasons.
The US’ Democratic government, on the other hand, is trying hard to undo the sins of its past and get back in Africa’s good books.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently visited three African Union (AU) member-states in August in an attempt to rejuvenate ties.
Blinken first visited the Republic of South Africa and conversed with the country’s ruling party – African National Congress (ANC) leadership which previously refused to denounce Moscow over its special military operation in Ukraine.
However, even after the recent visit, the ANC leadership does not share solidarity with the Biden administration and the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has clearly stated that the U.S. should encourage a diplomatic resolution to the war in Ukraine.
Moreover, the US and South African leadership is also divided on many issues like Palestine and the struggle for control of Western Sahara between the Kingdom of Morocco and Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
It is important here to mention that Pretoria is a member of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) Summit which meets on a regular basis to enhance diplomatic and economic cooperation.
Read More: 16 major African countries owe their allegiance to Russia
After suffering humiliation in South Africa, Blinken decided to continue his efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, the issues between the DRC and its neighbor Rwanda have impacted US policy in the region.
DRC claims that Rwanda backs a group known as the M23 rebels, which reportedly promote violence in east DRC and has impacted civilians, thus downgrading relations between the two nations.
In most African countries, this is the situation; either they are tired of the West or simply want to escape the Chinese debt trap, and Russia is proving to be their most advantageous ally to assist them in doing away with the diktats of both Beijing and Washington.
The US desires that Africa submits to its decrees, but Africa believes otherwise. You see, Africa has started to decimate the neo-imperialism of the US and China, and now the continent is beginning to welcome Russia to its soil.
