Courting Africa
Courting Africa
Russian President Vladimir Putin is making grand promises to African countries to try to shore up support against the West. On Thursday, Putin?hosted ?the Russia-Africa summit in his hometown of St. Petersburg, where he promised six African nations up to 50,000 metric tons of free grain in the next three to four months despite Western sanctions on Russian exports.
But Moscow’s lucky grain recipients weren’t chosen randomly. Of the six nations offered free grain, one of them (Somalia) has repeatedly supported Putin on United Nations resolutions to condemn and halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And two of them (Mali ?and the Central African Republic) remain strongholds of Russia’s paramilitary Wagner Group. Africa’s poorer nations have been repeatedly “screwed over ” by Ukrainian grain suppliers, Putin said on Thursday, claiming that Kyiv gives 70 percent of its exports only to high- or above average-income countries. According to the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s Joint Steering Committee,?65 percent ?of wheat exported from Ukraine under the deal went to developing countries.
Russia last week?suspended ?its participation in the Black Sea grain deal, which ensured the safe transportation of grain out of the region. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that Putin’s decision to leave the agreement as well as Moscow’s?bombing ?of a Danube River port in Ukraine were “especially devastating for vulnerable countries struggling to feed their people,” such as nations in the Horn of Africa. The East African region is dependent on Russian and Ukrainian grain exports, and Russia’s war in Ukraine has worsened its already dire?food scarcity crisis .
Only 17 African heads of state attended Thursday’s meeting, less than half of the 43 African leaders who attended the last summit in 2019.
Among the attendees, the most surprising guest wasn’t an African leader at all but rather Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was?photographed ?shaking hands with a top Central African Republic official.
Prigozhin is supposed to be in Belarus as part of his exile for?attempting a coup ?on June 23, yet his appearance indicates that the mercenary leader remains an integral part of the Kremlin’s establishment.
Putin hopes this year’s summit will strengthen Moscow’s ties with the continent to help counteract Russia’s international isolation resulting from his decision to invade Ukraine. However, Africa has a?long history ?of nonalignment going back to the Cold War, and the smaller turnout in St. Petersburg suggests that not every African leader is on board with getting cozy with Russia.
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Don't forget:
On 24 June 1948 the Soviet Union abruptly closed all land and water access to the Western Sectors of Berlin. Over 2 million civilians, dependent on the surrounding territory and the West for food, fuel, and other basic goods, were suddenly cut off from all necessities of life.
The Western Allies had the option of either withdrawing their garrisons and allowing the Soviet Union to take control of the entire city, or of trying to supply the city by air. Never before in history had 2 million people been supplied exclusively by air. None of the senior military commanders believed it could be done …
Europe 1948. The continent struggles with rationing, widespread unemployment and a growing Soviet threat while Berlin lies ruined under the joint control of wartime allies bitterly at odds. With the currency worthless, the population lives on hand-outs or turns to crime and prostitution. Deep inside the Soviet Zone of occupation, it is an ideal target for a communist take-over.?
The defenders of democracy are on a collision course with Stalin’s merciless aggression.
In the ruins of Hitler’s capital, former RAF officers and a woman pilot start an air ambulance company. The service offers …
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