It would be churlish to dismiss as a waste of time and resources all the summits that African leaders are invited to meet the world’s super powers. But a healthy dose of cynicism is required when assessing all of them — be it with US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and, last week’s one, with Vladimir Putin of Russia in St Petersburg.
Beyond photo opportunities and an exchange of pleasantries, they can offer a platform for small talk that leads to the resolution of major world problems. Most, however, tend to be choreographed by officials before leaders arrive for lengthy speeches and signing of memoranda of agreements and cutting ribbons.
The Russia-Africa summit attracted a lot of attention mostly for wrong reasons. Other than a few bilateral engagements with African leaders, including the so-called Africa peace mission a month ago, Putin has stood in isolation from the world since his illegal invasion of Ukraine 18 months ago.
The visit by African leaders would have given him a rare sense of relevance after a few bad months. A month ago Putin faced global humiliation when the Wagner fighters, a group of mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, marched to Moscow. They aborted the mutiny after a deal was struck allowing the fighters safe passage to Belarus. Hopes of relevance were soon dashed.
Late cancellations saw only 17 African heads of state — including President Cyril Ramaphosa and heads of the AU and AU Commission — attend. When compared with the 43 African heads of state and government who attended the inaugural Russia-Africa summit in 2019, this must have come as a snub to Putin.
Most of Africa’s leaders have not condemned him for his aggression; nor have they criticised him for forcefully removing thousands of Ukrainian women and children from Ukraine to Russia.
This abuse of human rights attracted the ire of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which has since issued an arrest warrant for Putin. In turn, the arrest warrant has resulted in him being uninvited to next month’s summit of leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA (Brics) in Johannesburg.
As a signatory of the Rome Statute, the treaty that set up the ICC, Pretoria was obligated to execute the arrest warrant should Putin set foot in SA. He reluctantly agreed to stay home.
Against this background, the low turnout is understandable. Smiling and shaking hands with Putin while thousands of Ukrainians are being shelled and bombed would have been awkward.
The other irritation was Putin’s withdrawal from the Black Sea deal — an agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain. This came just weeks before the Russia-Africa summit. Sensing anger among Africans, the Kremlin announced that Africa’s poorest countries would receive Russian grain free of charge. Details of what is to replace the Black Sea arrangement are scant.
To all intents and purposes, Russia is playing catch-up with the West and China in courting African countries for friendship and deeper co-operation in trade, investment, military and humanitarian fields. Trade with Africa is minuscule. China has been the main beneficiary. It is now Africa’s main trading partner.
Russia’s efforts to woo Africa, which started in earnest in 2019 in Sochi, were interrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak. When the world reopened from a two-year lockdown, Putin turned his focus on Ukraine in 2022.
It is hard to see how he plans to increase co-operation with Africa amid a war that is unwinnable. With the West’s military help, Ukraine has put up a decent counteroffensive against Russia.
Still, Africa should keep its options open. Unlike during the Cold War era, it must partner countries that advance its programme to defeat poverty, inequality and underdevelopment. It must prioritise pragmatism over ideology and historical solidarity.
Up until now, Africa has been diffident in communicating its self-interest. It has also battled to speak with one voice on its interests beyond the African Continental Free Trade Area — a trade pact that seeks to cut import tariffs on more than 90% of goods being traded within the continent — to bolster intra-African trade. Intra-African trade is now under 15%.
African leaders should also tell Putin to keep his former friend, Prigozhin, from destabilising the continent. Last week he welcomed the military coup in Niger. None of Africa’s leaders, including the increasingly irrelevant AU, said a word. Since decamping in Belarus, his fighters have been idling without work. He sees Africa as a lucrative market for inciting civil wars and plundering minerals.
These developments should worry Africa.
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