The military-strategic importance of Africa in the post-monopolar world

The military-strategic importance of Africa in the post-monopolar world

The global balance of power is changing. The short-term period of omnipotence by one power, the so-called monopolarity, is over.

The old world centers of economic power (USA/Canada, EU, Japan) are gradually losing some global economic positions to competitors, primarily young, fast-growing economies - China, India, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Argentina, Indonesia, etc.

Leonid FITUNI

Individual countries, previously classified as part of the global periphery, began to acquire previously uncharacteristic economic power and geopolitical significance, while the traditional center of the globalized economy, colloquially referred to as the “golden billion,” began to slowly lose at least some of the levers of control of the world economy , hitherto unconditionally at his disposal. According to many authoritative analysts, the focus of global development and, at the same time, global confrontation is gradually shifting from the North Atlantic to the Asia-Pacific region.

Against this background, there is a reassessment of the comparative importance and role of regions of the world as zones of conflict of interests between participants in renewed rivalry. Given the extreme undesirability of an extremely dangerous direct confrontation between the “old” and “new” players, the geostrategic and military-political significance of the “peripheral” zones of rivalry has increased: the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Here, nationalism, separatism, and religious extremism become catalysts for conflict and at the same time convenient tools for external intervention. In order to preserve the previous configuration of the world order and the global governance paradigms they established, some “old players” are ready to use the forces of international terrorism.

MILITARY BASES AND SUPPORT POINTS

The bloc of “old players” considers Africa, first of all, from three points of view: the actual military-geopolitical, resource, and from the point of view of projected prospects for global development. These three qualitative aspects are conditionally projected both onto the operational, tactical and strategic interests of individual countries, and onto the synergy of the key military alliance of the “old” ones - NATO. All three aspects are viewed through the prism of rivalry with what are considered to be the main existing and potential rivals and competitors. In the role of the latter, they see primarily China and, to a somewhat lesser extent (especially if we talk about Tropical Africa), Russia. At the same time, the West is closely monitoring the growing activity and influence of “second-tier” rivals in this region - Iran, Turkey, the monarchies of the Persian Gulf, both Koreas, Brazil and India.

The geostrategic importance of the continent is naturally predetermined by its geographical position as the southern flank of NATO - points and theaters controlling sea lanes in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, as well as in the South Atlantic.

The United States has already created more than 60 outposts and deployment points in Africa.

Even after the collapse of their colonial empires, the old colonial powers-NATO members, to one degree or another, retained significant military-strategic positions in Africa - both in terms of the direct presence of their military bases and contingents in African territories, and in terms of military-technical cooperation in the field of creating national armies, supplying them with weapons and training personnel.

Officially, in Africa, France has the most military bases and significant stationary military facilities that are not legally called bases (Djibouti, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Reunion, the Comorian island of Mayotte, Senegal). Also similar facilities in the African region have: Great Britain (Kenya, Ascension Island, British Indian Ocean Territories), Italy (Djibouti), India (Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius), Japan (Djibouti), Turkey (Somalia).

The US military has established a vast network of more than 60 outposts and deployment sites in Africa. Currently, some of them are in use, and some are reserve. This includes bases, camps, communication centers/points, and ports. All this covers at least 34 states on the continent. Formally, such points are considered not bases, but “points of cooperation in the field of security” (Co-operative Security Location, CSL), and allegedly serve for the temporary storage of mainly “provisions and ammunition.”

Why are these bases needed, what do they protect? It is declared that their main task is to protect critical NATO communications, maintain peace, prevent conflicts in Africa and combat the threat of terrorism and piracy. Without downplaying the role of foreign contingents in solving at least part of the declared tasks, it must be recognized that for all of the above states, the specified objects are, first of all, important elements in asserting their geopolitical significance and international projection of their military power.

Indeed, after the operations to launch the “Arab Spring” and, especially, after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, the situation with large-scale activities of terrorist organizations on African soil greatly worsened. According to estimates by the Center for Global and Strategic Studies at the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, currently the total number of militants belonging to various types of terrorist organizations and structures on the continent can be up to 70 thousand people. At the same time, about 1 million people live in the territories controlled by terrorists. The largest areas are occupied by terrorists in Nigeria and Cameroon, as well as in South Sudan. A direct threat to Western strategic interests is posed by terrorist structures in northwestern Africa (primarily Mali, Algeria, Morocco), Libya, Sinai (Egypt), the Horn of Africa and, more likely due to the scale of the challenge than the threat to strategic supplies resources or communications - in Nigeria.

The US military command considers the main challenges of today in Africa to be the intensification of the activities of four terrorist organizations: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al-Shabab in Somalia and ISIS in Libya (all of these organizations banned in Russia). At the same time, it is noted that the United States is fighting another 48 terrorist groups in Africa.

A separate problem is piracy off the coast of East Africa and in the Gulf of Guinea. If in the first region it was successfully reduced by the combined efforts of many non-African players, then in the second it not only does not decrease, but tends to periodically escalate.

It is declared that one of the main tasks of foreign military contingents in African countries is the fight against piracy.

There has been an increase in armed attacks on foreign ships in the Gulf of Guinea for the purpose of robbery, hostage-taking and ransom. In 2015, there were over fifty attacks, resulting in victims of citizens of many countries. In 2016, this negative trend continued. In the first six months of last year alone, three Russian crew members were taken hostage during armed attacks on merchant ships (all were later safely released). At the end of November 2016, the Greek ship “Saronic Breeze” under the Panamanian flag with 20 citizens of Russia and Ukraine on board, which was previously in a roadstead in the territorial waters of Benin, was captured.

Apparently, not wanting to disperse its naval resources in the context of the successful work of the Russian Navy off the coast of Syria, NATO declared that it intended to complete its naval operation “Ocean Shield” off the coast of East Africa. According to Moscow, this most likely will not entail a curtailment of anti-piracy efforts at all. Navy ships of “independent participants” (Russia, China, India, the Republic of Korea, Japan, etc.) are actively operating in this water area. A similar operation of the European Union “Atalanta”, the actions of the 151st formation of the US Navy and their allies continue. The leadership of the North Atlantic Alliance stated that if the situation escalates off the coast of Somalia, the necessary forces will be transferred to the specified region from the Mediterranean Sea, where another NATO force operation, Sea Guardian, is currently underway. It can be assumed that NATO sees a threat in this area that is more serious than Somali pirates.

STRATEGIC INNOVATION – INSTITUTIONAL LINING

In the 21st century, a clear trend has emerged towards an attempt to ensure a long-term institutional link between African countries and the military-organizational structures of the West and its military-political strategies. This is a new trend, since previously external players imitated the desire to maintain the continent’s non-aligned and non-nuclear status and even to create a “zone of peace” in Africa. The hypocrisy of this approach is evidenced by the huge number of armed intra- and inter-country conflicts, which many Western governments or corporations have had a hand in inciting or maintaining to one degree or another.

In a unipolar world, the United States and its satellites offered African countries and their organizations, including the African Union (AU), many military cooperation programs and activities carried out on an institutional basis (bilaterally - through the interministerial line, multilaterally - through the AU, ECOWAS, assistance to international peacekeeping forces, etc.).

Separately, it should be noted the efforts to “interpersonally” link African military structures and personnel to NATO. Since 2009, the Americans have trained more than 250 thousand African soldiers and officers for the PKO and the contingent of the African Union Standing Forces, spending $892 million on this.

As is known, the events of September 11, 2001 were, among other things, used to openly announce the North Atlantic Alliance’s departure from the narrow format of a regional defense alliance and the transformation of NATO into an organization with a much broader mandate for “peace maintenance and peacebuilding, crisis resolution and institution building.” At the celebrations on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, then NATO Secretary General Rasmussen publicly declared: “We must go where the threat comes from and eliminate it at its source - politically, economically and militarily. Let’s face it: the defense of our territory no longer begins at our borders - it begins very far from them.” As the actions of NATO members show, Africa is that “far” to the south from the area of the bloc’s original mandate.

Shortly before the keynote address by the NATO Secretary General, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) was formed. This interspecific unified combat command, whose area of responsibility covers the entire African continent with neighboring islands, with the exception of the territory of Egypt and the Seychelles, has been officially operational since October 1, 2008. The permanent headquarters of the command is located in Kelly Barracks (Stuttgart, Germany). As of May 2016, the strength of AFRICOM headquarters was about 2 thousand people. The number of military personnel in the area of responsibility exceeded 6,600 people.

Many Western governments or corporations have had a hand in sparking or maintaining the vast number of armed conflicts in Africa.

Official public information on the activities of the command is rather scarce. However, TomDispatch's 2013 research and analysis of documents and open source information showed that the US military participated during 2012 and 2013. in activities that ranged from raids and special operations to training local militaries, in at least 49 of the 54 countries on the African continent.

US troops are conducting a wide range of operations in Africa, including air strikes against militants, night raids to kidnap terrorist suspects, airlifts of French and African troops to fight proxy wars and evacuations from destabilized countries. Primarily, however, the U.S. military conducts exercises, trains allies, funds, equips, and advises local African militaries, as well as medical, biological, and other research related to threats unique to tropical regions.

AFRICOM describes its mission as advancing "American national security interests through focused, sustained engagement with partners" and emphasizes that these "operations, exercises, and security assistance and cooperation programs support the foreign policy of the U.S. Government, and do so primarily , through military interactions and assistance programs.”

AFRICOM's activities are actually aimed at providing conditions for the US military presence and dominance in the African region, at creating military infrastructure facilities and para-military (civil-military) centers of presence, auxiliary civilian facilities operating in the interests of solving US military tasks, to establish long-term ties and the dependence of African military structures and the military potential of the countries of the continent on the United States, as well as the spread of “soft power” through various programs for the African military and part of the civilian elite, including through non-military channels of foreign internships, scholarships, language and medical programs.

Despite PR and flamboyant propaganda, the question of the real US military presence in Africa is extremely opaque. AFRICOM's overt activities are divided between two main areas: cooperation with countries within the command's mandate area in the security field and the conduct of exercises and other training activities.

AFRICOM's area of responsibility covers the entire African continent.

The first direction includes 12 key programs:

1) ACOTA (Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance) is a program to train military instructors and equip African national armed forces to conduct peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance operations. Formally funded by the US State Department.

2) ADAPT (Africa Deployment Assistance Partnership) - also formally financed by the US State Department, an initiative to provide certain types of training, as well as equipment necessary for multinational peacekeeping operations.

3) APS (Africa Partnership Station) is the flagship program of U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVAF) for maritime security cooperation with a military focus by enhancing Navy awareness, response capability, and naval infrastructure development.

4) The AMLEP (African Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership) program is aimed at ensuring the maritime security of African countries in the maritime domain through real combined law enforcement operations.

5) The Foreign Military Sales program is directly controlled by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency under its own Defense Trade and Arms Transfer program.

6) IMET (International Military Education and Training) funds the participation of Africans in vocational training programs. This is a key program from the point of view of the formation of long-term “soft power” of the United States among the African elite, since its main target audience is the current and, most importantly, promising (in American terminology, “future”) “military and civilian leaders of African nations.” The focus of the program is to ensure effective long-term impact on students during their stay in the United States and other American-controlled training centers (for example, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany).

7) MEDCAP (Medical Civil Action Program) - a program of interaction mainly with civil African partners in the field of medicine, training of medical personnel and studying common and tropical-specific diseases and threats to human health.

8) The National Guard State Partnership Program is a key mechanism for interaction between the national guards of US states and African states. There are currently 12 such “partnerships”: California - Nigeria; New York State - South Africa; Utah - Morocco; Vermont - Senegal; Wyoming - Tunisia; Kentucky - Djibouti; Massachusetts - Kenya; North Carolina - Botswana; Michigan - Liberia. The North Dakota National Guard has partnerships with three countries - Ghana, Togo and Benin.

9) The Pandemic Response Program has been implemented since 2008 jointly with the US Department of Defense and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Formally, the goal of the program is to help African militaries integrate into national systems and plans to combat the influenza pandemic. Direct training is being conducted on military operations to ensure security and stability in the region in the event of various pandemics. Particular attention is paid to issues of interaction between military structures of different countries when such situations arise. In reality, the program extends not only to influenza pandemics.

10) The Partner Military HIV/AIDS Program studies the military aspects of the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The formal goal of the program is to prevent and reduce the number of cases of HIV infection and AIDS prevention among foreign military personnel. Started in 1999

11) PILOT (Partnership for Integrated Logistics Operations and Tactics) - partnership for integrated operational-tactical logistics support. It is focused on the African Union Standby Force (ASF) and aims to achieve mutual interoperability and interaction between the US Armed Forces and the AU RSF.

12) VETCAP (Veterinary Civil Action Program) - a set of veterinary programs “in the interests of achieving strategic military goals.” The full list of objects and specific projects is not made public. It is known that there are “joint service commands” and facilities in Djibouti, Kenya, Morocco, and Ethiopia.

AFRICOM's key programs include training...

As for exercises and other “applied operations,” information is extremely limited, since AFRICOM only talks about part of its activities. It does not provide a breakdown of the nature of these activities. Based on the published speeches of the AFRICOM command in the US Senate, it can be concluded that during the year the command conducts from 500 to 600 “actions” per year, which mean “exercises, operations and other events.” Among the exercises, special mention should be made of the annual complex African Lion exercise to test interaction between the US Armed Forces and Morocco, the US Navy's maritime exercises in East Africa, Cutlass Express and Phoenix Express, the declared purpose of which is to ensure the enforcement of maritime law and maintain stability, similar in objectives to naval exercise Obangame Express in the Gulf of Guinea, counter-terrorism exercise Flintlock conducted by the United States with a number of African partners since 2006.

COLONIAL LEGACY

The French military presence on the continent retains strong lines of continuity from the colonial rule of Paris in West and Equatorial Africa. Currently, the influence of the former metropolis is based on three pillars:

a) influence on the construction and training of national armed forces in their former possessions;

b) the direct military presence of French forces in Africa at military bases and in the form of military contingents stationed in African countries with various mandates;

c) airmobile interventionist forces of France, deployed to African territory to resolve conflicts with enviable regularity “in emergency circumstances.” In recent decades, France has sent large contingents of interventionist forces to the DRC/Zaire (1977-1978) to counter rebel and separatist groups; in the Central African Republic, where they participated in the overthrow of Emperor Bokassa in 1979 and again in 2013 to suppress rebel uprisings; to protect the ruling regimes in Chad in 1978, 1983 and 1986. and in 2008 to repel a rebel advance on the capital.

In 1994, French forces were stationed in the so-called protected zone in Rwanda. France helped the Habyarimana regime during the civil war, in particular by supplying weapons and training to government troops. The French saw the RPF and Uganda as conduits for British influence. French intervention in the conflict has been the subject of several official investigations. A French parliamentary commission in 1998 concluded that the authorities had “errors in judgment,” including regarding the advisability of a military presence, but did not directly accuse them of responsibility for the genocide. In 2008, the Rwandan government accused France of knowing about his preparations and helping to train the Hutu militia.

...and equipping the national armies of African countries.

Since 2002, the French have conducted peacekeeping operations in C?te d'Ivoire, and in 2011 they intervened in the internal conflict on the side of Alassane Ouattara and helped arrest former President Laurent Gbagbo. That same year, French troops took part in the overthrow of President Gaddafi in Libya. In 2013, the French Armed Forces turned out to be a decisive force in suppressing the separatist uprisings of Islamists in northern Mali.

Currently, the main content of France's policy on the Black Continent remains the desire to maintain its position in the region against the backdrop of growing competition from the United States and China. In this regard, despite a slight decline in the current level of involvement in regional affairs, Paris’s efforts in African countries are aimed at creating conditions that would allow them to influence the formation of the foreign policy course of these states, as well as providing access for French companies to the development of deposits of scarce raw materials, especially oil and gas, promotion of military-technical products of the French military-industrial complex to African markets.

French bases in the Sahara Desert control the entire Sahel zone - the main area for uranium production for subsequent export to France, and in Djibouti - the Red Sea and sea communications, guaranteeing supplies of Middle Eastern oil to Europe.

A good justification for expanding the naval presence of France, as well as for many other countries in the western Indian Ocean, was the fight against piracy. The small, poor African state of Djibouti, located in a strategically important region at the southern entrance to the Red Sea “opposite” Yemen, also benefited. In addition to the former metropolis, France, it has agreed to host military bases of the United States, China, Japan, and Italy on its territory, for which it not only receives an annual fee, but also the opportunity to earn money by providing them and providing Djiboutian labor.

Djibouti is home to the largest American permanent military base in Africa, Camp Lemonnier, where more than 4,000 people serve. The French and Japanese facilities are located near Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport. The United States pays an annual rent of $63 million for the use of its base.

CHINESE FACTOR

In February 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Defense confirmed that construction work had begun in Djibouti, where Beijing is establishing its first African military base. Chinese military experts say that although the base will have PLA troops, it will still be different from its neighbors - the military bases of France and the United States. First and foremost, the Chinese base will serve as a service point for Chinese vessels in the region, and will also allow it to keep abreast of shipping through the Suez Canal. The base will cost Beijing almost $600 million. It is not yet known when construction of the base will be completed.

In 2016, China began building its first African military base.

China first used Djibouti during the evacuation of its citizens from Yemen in the spring of 2015, after which it began negotiations for a permanent presence. In November-December of the same year, negotiations were crowned with success, and real work began in the winter. The price for permission to use the base is Chinese investment of $3 billion in the construction of a railway from Djibouti to Ethiopian Addis Ababa and $400 million in the development of Djibouti’s port infrastructure. But in return, Chinese banks will also receive permission to operate in Djibouti, and Chinese companies will receive a number of trading privileges.

Before the Djibouti base, the Chinese Navy used Port Victoria in the Seychelles for ship refueling and sailor rest, as did other navies. Beijing donated a patrol boat to the Seychelles Coast Guard. Rumors about China's plans to create 18 naval bases across the world's oceans have been circulating for many years. The list of potential candidates included Djibouti, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Angola and Mozambique. The Chinese believe that, taking into account the threats posed by the unpredictable policies of the United States and its satellites, bases in Africa may become a direct necessity for China when evacuating thousands of its citizens from hot spots (as was already the case in 2011 in Libya).

Since 2005, arms supplies from China have gone to 10 new African countries. African states are updating their arsenals left over from the USSR and are ready to take Chinese weapons, especially since Beijing often provides loans for these purchases or they are added to infrastructure contracts with the PRC.

Chinese peacekeepers were stationed in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Burundi, Mozambique, etc. In September 2015, China said it was willing to contribute 8,000 soldiers to UN peacekeeping operations. There is no exact data on the number of Chinese military advisers in Africa. In Djibouti, according to rumors picked up by the world media, China plans to station up to 10 thousand of its soldiers. In 2014, news of the establishment of an underground PLA Air Force base in Zimbabwe was widely circulated. The degree of reliability of information about Chinese military activity in Africa published in Western media may vary. However, it should be remembered that as a result of the recently announced military reform, China must be prepared for war beyond its own borders by 2020.

RESOURCE WARS

In general, strategic rivalry in Africa, primarily Chinese-American, is painfully reminiscent of the “peripheral” competition of the leading European powers on this continent on the eve of the First World War. Then the “rising” Germany tried to bolster the potential and resource base of its rapid economic growth through expansion on the Dark Continent, but ran into stiff resistance from England and France, who did not want to share the natural wealth, as it seemed to them, already “assigned” to them by the colonial chains of Africa .

Nowadays, to many players, Africa seems to be the last unspent and still not fully “shared” reservoir of fundamental development resources in the world both for today and for the rest of this century. This applies to natural, human and even financial resources in the form of “non-fictitious” gold, platinum and diamond assets.

In the 21st century, the strategic competition between the world's leading economies for African resources has intensified. Africa is rich in various types of natural raw materials. Deposits of almost all known types of minerals have been discovered here. Among other regions, Africa ranks first in the world in reserves of ores of manganese, chromite, bauxite, gold, platinum group metals, cobalt, vanadium, diamonds, phosphorites, fluorite, second in reserves of ores of copper, asbestos, uranium, antimony, beryllium, graphite, third – on reserves of oil, gas, mercury, iron ore; There are also significant reserves of ores of titanium, nickel, bismuth, lithium, tantalum, niobium, tin, tungsten, precious stones, etc.

The United States distinguishes two categories of minerals in order of importance for maintaining its global dominance: “critical” (their supply is at risk of interruption) and “strategically important” (fundamentally important for ensuring national security). Based on monitoring results for the period 1998-2013. 78 types of mineral raw materials - 17 positions are classified as the highest category of criticality (the criticality cut-off point is above 33.5% on a special scale of change). These are, in descending order of potential criticality: ferromolybdenum (FeMo), yttrium (Y), rare earth metals (La-Lu), rhodium (Rh), ruthenium (Ru), mercury (Hg), monazite, tungsten (W), silicomanganese (SiMn ), mica, iridium (Ir), magnesite, germanium (Ge), vanadium (V), bismuth (Bi), antimony (Sb) and cobalt (Co). Due to a change in the methodology for calculating the index, the list did not include the equally critical indium (In), tantalum (Ta), niobium (Nb), rhenium (Re) and beryllium (Be). Almost all of the above mineral resources are mined in Africa. At the same time, Africa has a monopoly on a number of them.

True, only a portion of the items are imported directly from there; many are imported through China, which is considered by the United States as its main competitor in the 21st century. In recent years, China has established production and, in some cases, monopolized the production and/or purchase of critical raw materials there. Beijing processes it into products of a higher degree of processing (metal, concentrates, etc.) and supplies it to Washington.

The table below gives an idea of the degree of US import dependence for some items and the main importers in the last two years for which statistics are available (2013-2015, African countries and China, which supplies processed African raw materials, are in bold):

In addition, the West has long realized the importance of African oil and gas reserves in the context of a shortage of hydrocarbons around the world and responded by increasing attention to the region and military presence in it. Most of the oil reserves are concentrated in four countries - Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, and South Sudan. They account for more than 90% of the continent's proven oil reserves. Gas fields (91.5% of proven reserves) are located in the territory (and within the exclusive maritime economic zones) of Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Nigeria. Africa accounted for 8% of 10% of the world's oil reserves.

In Africa as a whole, the dominant positions in the industry belong to American, Anglo-Dutch and, to a much lesser extent, French and Italian capital. However, the “old-timers” are increasingly being squeezed out of their dominant positions by China, India, Brazil and other young competitors. The strengthening of Chinese positions in the oil and gas industries of individual African countries is especially visible. To a large extent, this was facilitated by China’s competent and decades-long strategy to advance into the African continent. Currently, both the US and China receive about 20% from Africa, and the EU about 36% of all imported oil.

Russia's dependence on imports from Africa, with the exception of raw materials for the production of aluminum (Guinea) and some rare metals, is low. However, it should be taken into account that after the collapse of the USSR, some of the deposits of critical minerals ended up outside Russia. As a result, the shortage of some of them has increased. In these circumstances, perhaps the possibility of importing scarce resources from Africa should be considered.

And we don't need Africa?

Eastern Accord is one of the international exercises conducted with the active participation of the United States since 2012.

Africa is becoming a significant player in the global arms and military equipment market. The countries of the continent account for up to 10% of world arms exports. If in 1990-1999. military supplies to African states amounted to $6.4 billion, then in 2000-2013. - almost $20 billion. In terms of the growth rate of military spending - 5.9% - in 2014, the continent came out on top in the world. From 2005 to 2014 military spending by African states increased by 91% and amounted to $50.2 billion in 2014.

Currently, Russia carries out military-technical cooperation with 25 of 39 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. There are permanent representative offices of Rosoboronexport in Uganda, Ethiopia and Angola, and intergovernmental agreements on military-technical cooperation have been signed with most states. Among the largest partners of the Russian Federation are Angola, Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia.

For the period from 2000 to 2013. exports of weapons and military equipment to SSA countries amounted to $13.5 billion (including $244 million in 2000 and $717 million in 2013). So, in 2013-2014. contracts were signed with Nigeria (supply of 6 Mi-35 and 6 Mi-17 helicopters) and with Namibia (supply of small arms, mortars, vehicles and ammunition), as well as with Angola. Total for the period 2000-2013. Russia exported $11.68 billion worth of military products to the continent, or 11.7% of total Russian arms exports over the same years. In 2014, the volume of Russian arms exports amounted to $362 million. In 2013, our country accounted for 30% of the arms and military equipment market of all African countries: in North African countries - 43%, in sub-Saharan countries - 12%. In the short term, the most important direction in increasing the volume of military-technical cooperation with African countries is the modernization of previously supplied military equipment.

Russia continues to monitor the situation off the coast of Somalia and take direct part in international efforts to counter maritime piracy in the area. Despite the fact that the activity of pirate groups has decreased to a minimum in recent years, we note the continued danger of renewed attacks on commercial ships in the northwestern Indian Ocean. Due to the fact that the infrastructure and bases have not been eliminated, a possible reduction in the naval presence of countries participating in the anti-piracy operation off the coast of the Horn of Africa will most likely lead to aggravation of the situation.

Thus, in October-November 2016, three pirate attacks on foreign merchant ships were recorded off the coast of Somalia. Experts around the world widely share Moscow’s concerns in this regard. In turn, as the Russian Foreign Ministry noted, the Russian Navy will continue, in pursuance of the instructions of President Vladimir Putin and in accordance with the well-known resolution of the UN Security Council, to take direct part in patrolling the waters of the Gulf of Aden and escorting convoys of commercial ships, including foreign ones at no cost.

One of the most dangerous realities of the modern world is the growing threat of international terrorism. The spread of extremist ideology and the activity of terrorist structures in a number of regions (primarily in the Middle East and North Africa), caused both by systemic development problems exposed against the backdrop of globalization processes and, to a large extent, by external interference, together led to the destruction of traditional mechanisms public administration and security, increasing the scale of illegal distribution of weapons and ammunition.

The global terrorist threat acquired a qualitatively new character with the emergence of the international terrorist organization “Islamic State” and similar associations, which raised violence to an unprecedented level of cruelty, claimed to create their own state entity and strengthened their influence in the space from the Atlantic coast to Pakistan. Part of the territory of Africa (in Libya, Nigeria, Somalia) is actually controlled by organizations affiliated with ISIS.

Russia strives to create a broad international anti-terrorist coalition on a solid legal basis, based on effective and systematic interaction between states, without politicization and double standards, actively using the capabilities of civil society, primarily in order to prevent terrorism and extremism, and counter the spread of radical ideas in Africa.

Leonid Leonidovich FITUNI – Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy Director of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Doctor of Economics

The article was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Humanitarian Fund. Project No. 16-07-00009 “The phenomenon of the Islamic State in the context of the development of modern Eastern society.”