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Russia accuses US of attempts to disrupt its relations with Africa

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The latest scramble for Africa isn’t going away anytime soon as Russia’s deputy foreign minister has accused the United States is “exerting unprecedented pressure” on African countries, including attempting to disrupt a planned Russia-Africa summit.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, was also quoted by the state TASS agency reiterating Moscow’s accusations of the “collective West” staging a campaign to isolate Moscow.

“The United States and its allies are conducting an unprecedented campaign for the political and economic isolation of Russia, including the disruption of the Russian-Africa second summit in St. Petersburg,” Bogdanov told TASS.

“Since the beginning of the special military operation, the collective West has significantly increased pressure on African countries – through threats of imposing sanctions, termination of financial and humanitarian aid,” Bogdanov said.

There has been back and forth between the US and the global South, notably Russia and China over influence and relations with Africa. Russian president, Vladimir Putin, plans to host the second Russia-Africa summit in July in St. Petersburg, an event intended to underline his attempts to curry favour in African nations after being shunned by the West over his invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

The US in August 2021 announced a review of its strategic policy on sub-Saharan Africa in August, stressing the region’s importance.

In December, the United States hosted a US/Africa Summit where plans to commit $55 billion to Africa over the next three years were revealed. The White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the money will go to “a wide range of sectors to tackle the core challenges of our time,” and is being distributed in close partnership with Congress, Sullivan said.

Musings From Abroad

US wants UAE, others to cease support for Sudan’s warring parties

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The United States wants all countries, including the United Arab Emirates, to stop helping the warring sides in Sudan, the U.S. ambassador to the UN said on Monday, warning that a “crisis of epic proportions is brewing.”

A year ago, there was a war in Sudan between the Sudanese Army (SAF) and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This caused the biggest refugee crisis in the history of the world. In the past few days, the U.N. has been worried that the RSF might soon attack al-Fashir in Sudan’s North Darfur area.

The US continued to put sanctions on people who are linked to the Sudan issue. In September, the US also put sanctions on two companies, one of which was based in Russia. Washington has always said that the groups are making things less stable in Sudan, even though the war has killed thousands of civilians and forced millions to leave their homes.

In the same way, the UK has punished at least six businesses related to the fight between the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the head of Sudan’s transitional government’s Sovereign Council, and army troops loyal to General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is the deputy leader of the council and is in charge of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Experts, residents, and aid groups say the fight for al-Fashir, which has a long history as a power centre, could go on longer, make race tensions worse in the area that began 20 years ago, and spread to the border between Sudan and Chad.

“As I’ve said before, history is repeating itself in Darfur in the worst possible way,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Monday, adding that al-Fashir was “on the precipice of a large-scale massacre.”

The U.N. says that around 300,000 people were killed in Darfur in the early 2000s when “Janjaweed” militias, from which the RSF grew, helped the army put down a revolt by mostly non-Arab groups. The International Criminal Court wants to bring charges against Sudanese leaders for crimes against humanity and murder.

This month, top U.N. officials told the Security Council that the lives of about 800,000 people in al-Fashir are in “extreme and immediate danger” because violence is getting worse and could “unleash bloody intercommunal strife throughout Darfur.”

In the huge western part of Darfur, Al-Fashir is the only big city that is not controlled by the RSF. Last year, the RSF and its partners took over four more Darfur state capitals. They were blamed for killing non-Arab groups based on their race and other wrongdoings in West Darfur.

“We do know that both sides are receiving support – both with weapons and other support – to fuel their efforts to continue to destroy Sudan and yes, we have engaged with the parties on that including with our colleagues from the UAE,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

It is said that the conflict has forced more than 3 million people to leave their homes and that thousands have died.

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Musings From Abroad

W’Bank chief Banga expects rich nations to meet Africa’s donation expectations

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Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank, has said that he thinks donor countries will follow through on African leaders’ desire to make record-high contributions to a low-interest facility for developing nations.

He explained that these were not gifts but investments in the future of those countries.

Ahead of a World Bank conference scheduled for later this year, African leaders on Monday called for rich countries to commit to record contributions to a low-interest World Bank facility for developing nations. At a meeting in Japan in December, African heads of state asked rich countries to help raise at least $120 billion for the International Development Association (IDA).

That would be a record for IDA, which gives poor countries long-term loans and works in cycles of three years. The most money was raised in 2021, when $93 billion was raised.

For funders to reach the goal of $120 billion, they will need to come up with about $30 billion, since the World Bank can borrow $3 for every dollar raised.

“There is no doubt that all the donor countries have their challenges and their fiscal responsibilities. But I think they all value the effect of contributing to IDA,” Banga said in an interview on Monday.

More than half of the 75 countries that use the IDA site are from Africa. A lot of people are dealing with big debts and natural disasters, but it’s hard for them to get cheap loans on foreign markets.

The African leaders said that this makes getting IDA loans very important.

Banga said that wealthy nations should understand that helping others is good for them. He used China and India as examples of countries that used to be poor but now have big economies after getting help from IDA.

“I think the most important message is actually that this is not a handout,” he said. “If Africa develops well, Africa has a lot to offer the world.”

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