Riadh Sidaoui, Director of the CARABS Arab Research Centre in Geneva, shared his views on how the Russia-Africa summit is affecting the balance of power on the international stage, and not in favour of the West.
First of all, according to Mr Sidaoui, the Russian-African partnership is beneficial to both parties. Russia is realising the concept of a multipolar world, and the African continent has the opportunity to acquire all the resources it needs.
“I believe that the Russia-Africa summit is first and foremost about creating a new world order. It is no longer a question of American domination. Russia is a great power, a nuclear power. It’s not even about the fact that Russia is one of the world’s largest economies, producing all the strategic resources: weapons, energy, grain. And the African continent needs all these resources.”
According to the international relations analyst, the partnership between Russia and Africa can only grow, particularly in the food sector.
“It is obvious that we will see an increase in trade in cereals [between Russia and Africa]. With the closure of the Black Sea to Ukrainian grain trade, all that’s left is Russian grain. African countries are major importers of both Ukrainian and Russian grain.”
In the run-up to the summit, many African countries came under pressure from the West to decline the invitation. According to Riadh Sidaoui, such actions can only indicate that the West is returning to the bloc mentality of the 20th century.
“Today, we are in a state of total cold war. And a state of cold war means that the major powers must subordinate the minor powers to their own interests. But I think that the 49 countries and 17 leaders who accepted the invitation to the summit are really a victory for Russia.”
However, despite all NATO’s attempts to keep its former colonies within its sphere of influence, the African continent is moving further and further away from NATO and towards Russia. The West’s policy of pressure has therefore created a twofold problem.
“It should also be noted that today, the traditional classical Western powers are losing their influence on the African continent to China and Russia. For example, the CAR, then Mali, then Burkina Faso, Egypt and other countries have increased their imports of Russian weapons over the last five years. In the case of Egypt, 40% of weapons currently come from Russia.”
