Last updated Oct
29, 2019, Fort Russ News (Russia) https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/10/russia-africa-shared-vision-2030-alternative-to-neo-colonial-pillage/
A
long night of suffering has kept one of the richest continents on the globe in
a state of virtual dark age for over a century. Although the age of science has
given humanity the means to access the highest standards of living in world
history, 2019 has seen 15 000 children die of preventable deaths every day
(illness, starvation and murder) with half occurring in Sub Saharan Africa. In
a world of advanced energy technology, only five of 54 African countries have
access to 100% electrification and all are North African.
Africa’s
dark situation was never due to simplistic terms like “corruption” or
“incompetence”, nor was Africa ever “culturally incompatible” with western
technology as some racists have taught in social science classes. The truth is
that Africa was never given true independence as is popularly believed. Sure
there was nominal independence, but the economic independence
needed to become sovereign nations on the continent was never granted by
the empire.
This
is why the growing presence of nations such as China and Russia on the
continent are increasingly seen as beacons of hope for
a new generation of
Africans who recognise in this Eurasian alliance an opportunity to capture the
future they were robbed of over half a century ago.
The Russian African Summit in Sochi
A
watershed moment in this systemic change has occurred with the first Russia-Africa
Economic and Security Summit in Sochi (Oct. 23-24) co-chaired by
President Putin and Egypt’s President el-Sisi, featuring 50 African heads of
State alongside 3000 representatives of business, government, and finance. This
summit was the first of its kind, and followed hot off the heels of
China’s first China-Africa Economic and Security Summit which
was held in July 2019. In the past two years, 40 African
states have signed onto China’s Belt and Road Initiative which has scared
many imperially minded technocrats in the west.
In an interview leading up to the
Summit, President Putin beautifully echoed the Chinese philosophy of win-win
development for Africa:“We are not going to participate in a new
‘repartition’ of the continent’s wealth; rather, we are ready to engage in
competition for cooperation with Africa, provided that this competition is
civilized and develops in compliance with the law. We have a lot to offer to
our African friends.”
While
it does not have the same level of investments as China (which leads the world
with $200 billion/year), Russia’s investments have quadrupled since 2009 now
clocking it at $20 billion/year and growing with a focus on rail, energy
diplomacy, education, culture sharing and military assistance. Russia is
currently building Egypt’s first nuclear reactor in El Dabaa, and is
negotiating with several other nations such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and Kenya to
go nuclear which will end the policy of technological apartheid imposed onto
Africa for decades. Russia has announced the construction of an Africa
Center of Excellence and Nuclear Power in Ethiopia and the Russian
Academy of Sciences announced branches opening up across Africa. A vital driver
for development, Russian Railways is working to construct trans-border and
intra-border rail in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt and East Africa
(just to name a few). During the summit, Russia announced a cancellation
of a $20 billion African debt as an act of goodwill.
President
Putin pointed out the elephant in the room when he said: “We see a
number of Western states resorting to pressure, intimidation, and blackmail
against governments of sovereign African countries. They hope it will help them
win back their lost influence and dominant positions in former colonies and
seek—this time in a ‘new wrapper’—to reap excess profits and exploit the
continent’s resources without any regard for its population, environmental or
other risks. They are also hampering the establishment of closer relations
between Russia and Africa—apparently, so that nobody would interfere with their
plans”
Unlike
the west, Russia has the advantage of having encouraged African development
during the dark days of the Cold War and is thus infinitely more trusted than
the west, whose positive attempts to genuinely help Africa develop (as seen
under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, Italian Industrialist Enrico Mattei or
President de Gaulle) ended with either assassinations or coups.
Some
may call Putin’s words anti-west hyperbole, but a comparison of the quality of
investments Russian vs American into Africa demonstrates the two opposing
intentions referenced by Putin.
The Trap of Conditionalities
Where
US Aid, the World Bank and IMF have poured billions of dollars into Africa over
decades, standards of living, and stability of those recipient nations have
only plummeted. This is the opposite result one would expect from such
“generous” behaviour. Why?
The
answer can be partly be found in the shift towards IMF/World Bank
conditionalities which grew out of a monstrous paradigm shift that occurred in
the 1950s-1970s. Where leaders such as Franklin Roosevelt and his ally Henry
Wallace envisioned an industrialized
Africa liberated from colonialism, the Bretton Woods instruments they
created to provide long term low interest loans internationally were cleansed
of anti-colonial leaders and replaced with deep state tools early in the Cold
War ensuring that any credit issued would be tied to deadly conditionalities as
exposed by John Perkins in his book Confessions of
an Economic Hitman.
Under
this neo-colonial formula, Africa was allowed to get money. But those dollars
would no longer be “permitted” to be invested into genuine nation building or
advanced technological progress as Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah or Thomas
Sankara intended. Only “appropriate technologies” such as windmills or solar
panels were permitted. Small wells were ok, but major water/energy projects
like hydroelectric dams or Great Manmade Rivers were not allowed. Certainly no
nuclear power was permitted (unless you happened to be an apartheid state run
by white racists of course). Oil drilling and mining investments were ok, but
only if foreign companies like Barrick Gold or Standard Oil did the work and
none of the revenue or electricity benefited the people. Without the means of
producing real wealth (defined as combination of material, intellectual and
spiritual growth), Africa’s productive powers of labor collapsed with their
sovereignty and the debts only grew.
Hysterical Neocons Lash out
It
is no secret that just as China began outpacing the Americans in African
investment in 2007. Rather than acting intelligently to increase genuine
infrastructure funding as the Chinese had done, the US Deep State not only continued
its outdated debt-slavery practices, but created AFRICOM as a military arm
across the continent. Ironically AFRICOM’s presence coincided with a doubling
of militant Islamist activities since 2010 with 24 groups now identified (up
from only 5 in 2010) and a 960% increase in violent attacks from 2009-2018.
Just as western lending has caused a pandemic of slavery, so too has western
security forces only spread mass insecurity.
The
fact is that the neo cons infesting the Military Industrial Complex have openly
identified both countries as co-equal enemies to the USA and understand that
this alliance represents an existential threat to their hegemony. Speaking at
the Heritage Foundation last year, former National Security Advisor John Bolton
said (without blushing): “The predatory practices pursued by China and
Russia stunt economic growth in Africa; threaten the financial independence of
African Nations; inhibit opportunities for US investment… and pose a threat to
US national security interests.”
His
words were bolstered by acting head of AFRICOM Thomas Waldauser in Feb.
2019 “To thwart Russian exploitative efforts, USA AFRICOM continues to
work with a host of partners to be the military partner of choice in Africa.”
Luckily
for the world, Bolton and Waldauser were both flushed from their posts by an
American President who has chosen to ally with Russia and China rather than
risk World War III. However, the dangerous ideology and deep state power
structure they represent is not yet defeated, and with Trump’s intention to
pull troops out of Syria, these psychotic forces are as
dangerous as ever.
BRICS,
Russia/Press statements by presidents of Russia and Egypt
following Russia–Africa Summit
October 24, 2019 17:10, President
of Russia http://en.kremlin.ru http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/61896
Sochi
Vladimir
Putin and President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
and Co-Chairman of the Russia–Africa Summit Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
made statements for the press following the international forum.
President
of Russia Vladimir Putin: President el-Sisi, ladies
and gentlemen,
The first Russia-Africa Summit is over. Summing
up its work over the two days, we can say that this event opened up
a new page in the history of Russia’s relations with
African countries. This was a business meeting but at the same
time it was very friendly, if not cordial, and this created a special
atmosphere for our discussions.
Delegations of all African countries without
exception arrived in Sochi. Over forty states were represented by top
officials. The summit was preceded by a representative economic
forum. Many multilateral and bilateral contacts took place
at the top and other levels. Most important, they were held
at the business level.
The results of the joint efforts are
reflected in the final declaration. This document sets goals
and tasks for the further development of Russia-Africa
cooperation in all areas: politics, security, the economy, science,
technology, culture and humanitarian sphere.
To ensure that our cooperation is regular
and consistent, the forum made a decision
at the initiative of our African friends to create
a new dialogue mechanism – the Russia-Africa partnership forum.
Top-level meetings will take place within its
framework once every three years, held alternately in Russia
and in an African state. The forum will also provide
for annual consultations between the foreign ministers of Russia
and three African countries: the current, future and previous
chairpersons of the African Union.
Russia-Africa relations are based
on long-standing traditions of friendship and solidarity formed
back when our country supported the struggle of the peoples of Africa
against colonialism, racism and apartheid, protected their independence
and sovereignty, and helped establish statehood, build
the foundations of the national economy and create
combat-ready national armed forces.
Our specialists have built major infrastructure
facilities, including hydroelectric power plants, roads and industrial
enterprises. Thousands of Africans have received high-quality professional
training in our country.
Expanding and simplifying mutually beneficial
ties with African states are among Russia’s foreign policy priorities. We are
constructively working together at the UN and its regional
sector-specific institutions.
Our countries’ positions on important issues
on the international agenda are close or similar. We are grateful
to our African partners for supporting resolutions of prime
importance for us, such as resolutions on combating
the glorification of Nazism, on the non-deployment
of weapons in space first, on confidence-building measures
in outer space, and on international information security.
As a permanent member
of the United Nations, Russia stands with the countries
of Africa on matters of strengthening peace and stability
on the continent and ensuring regional security.
We are also striving to establish cooperation
with African integration associations. Prospects for cooperation between
the integration associations of Africa
and the Eurasian Economic Union were
discussed at a meeting between the heads of regional
African organisations and the Eurasian Economic Commission Board
chairman.
As you have just seen, a memorandum
of understanding has been signed between the Eurasian Economic
Commission and the African Union Commission. We plan to expand
trade and economic cooperation.
The economic forum, which, as you are aware,
took place yesterday, was devoted to this. The discussions
and presentations by key Russian companies, as well
as specific sessions focusing on particular areas of cooperation
have shown that Russian and African business circles are interested in expanding
mutually beneficial ties.
Ladies and gentlemen,
You understand that when we established relations back
in the times of the Soviet Union, it was done according
to the existing state blueprints. It was good, but it is hard
to imagine this today.
Today we need more information about each other’s
capacities; it is necessary that all the participants
in the economic processes keep track of the latest events
and African countries’ capabilities and competitive strengths
on global markets. It is impossible to do without events like
the one we held yesterday. All the necessary conditions have been
created for such work.
Last year Russia’s trade with African states grew more
than 17 percent and exceeded $20 billion, which we mentioned many times
yesterday and today. We believe that we can bring it to higher levels
and reach at least $40 billion.
Energy is an important area of economic
cooperation. Joint projects are implemented in traditional sectors such
as hydrocarbon production, construction and repair of power
generation facilities as well as in peaceful nuclear energy
and the use of renewable energy sources.
Russian companies are ready to work with their
African partners to upgrade transport infrastructure, develop
telecommunications and digital technologies, provide information security,
and they offer the most advanced technologies and engineering
solutions.
And, of course, Russia will continue its
traditional training of highly qualified national experts for all
branches of the economy of the African states. I was
very glad today when a participant in our discussion spoke
in Russian, with almost no accent.
Let me remind you that over 100 educational
institutions have been built in Africa with the support of our
country. Approximately 500,000 Africans completed training. Of these,
about 100,000 people received diplomas from Soviet and Russian
universities, and 250,000 studied at joint educational centres
in the African countries themselves. Another 150,000 specialists were
trained during the construction and operation of large
industrial enterprises built with our participation.
Russia will further assist African countries
in developing national healthcare, ensuring broad access for all
segments of the population to qualified medical care,
and strengthening Africa’s capacity to combat epidemics.
And I want to emphasise that such work
is absolutely mutually beneficial, since it also gives Russian companies
the opportunity to work in the African market, interact
with African partners and receive appropriate benefits
in the interests of the Russian Federation and its
citizens.
In conclusion, I would like to thank
the current Chairperson of the African Union, President
of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and all our Egyptian friends; there are
many of them, we all know them well; they played a direct, practical
role in the preparation of yesterday’s and today’s events.
I would like to thank them for their
active participation in this work and the holding
of the summit. And of course, I would like
to express gratitude to all African colleagues participating
in the summit for the fruitful joint work.
I am sure that the implementation
of the plans and initiatives agreed upon during the summit
will help bring Russian-African cooperation to a qualitatively new
level.
Thank you for your attention.
President
of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Chairperson
of the African Union and co-chair of the Russia-Africa
Summit (retranslated): President Putin, ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to express gratitude
to all of you, but especially to President Putin, for your
hospitality and warmth during the summit. I greatly appreciate
the efforts you have made to ensure its success, as well
as the spirit of cooperation displayed by the leaders
of the African countries and the heads of the AU
delegations who attended this summit. This helped us to coordinate
a final communique, which reflects the common priorities of Russia
and the African countries and the sides’ approach to many
international matters, primarily peace, security and sustainable
development in keeping with the African Union’s Agenda 2063
and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Russia-Africa Summit is aimed
at formalising a higher level of cooperation between
the sides and their political will and desire to strengthen
relations in all spheres in the interests of our
goals – peace, stability and sustainable development.
The Russia-Africa Economic Forum, which was held
yesterday, was a success for all its participants, because it boosted
interaction between various economic partners. It was attended
by the business elite from Russia and Africa.
The forum focused on priority issues
for the African continent, primarily infrastructure, industry,
agriculture, healthcare, energy and the application of modern
technology.
These goals were achieved through discussion
of the three main themes of the forum: ways to promote
economic relations, the encouragement of joint projects,
and humanitarian and cultural cooperation.
The forum provided a venue for direct
dialogue between representatives of the public and private
sectors of various countries, which has added a new dimension
to Russian-African relations by helping to attract Russian
businesses to the main economic sectors of African countries.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The open expression of Russian
and African views on many issues of mutual interest, above all
the development of political, economic, trade, scientific,
technological and humanitarian relations, accelerated our movement towards
our goals. It has also helped the heads of state and government
from Africa and Russia to adopt a final declaration that
reflects the principles coordinated by the sides, the most
important of which are respect for international law
and the UN Charter, the movement towards peace and security
through the creation of more equal and fair international
relations and a world order based on the principles
of multilateralism, respect for national sovereignty,
non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries
and the peaceful settlement of crises, as well
as the protection of national identity and civilisational
and cultural pluralism.
Our declaration has reaffirmed the goals
of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. We have approved a ministerial mechanism for promoting
dialogue and partnership. We appreciate all these moves and believe
that they have created a solid foundation for the further
development of Russian-African relations.
Aware of our common responsibility,
the Russian and African sides will continue coordinating their
efforts to monitor the implementation of the documents
adopted at the summit, because this meets the desires
and aspirations of African nations and the friendly Russian
Federation.
All of us are responsible for working
constructively on the basis of our achievements
and for joining efforts to consolidate the results
of the first Russia-Africa Summit in order to meet the aspirations
of the African continent and African nations as fully
as possible, as well as the aspirations of our
compatriots outside Africa who closely followed the summit hoping
for positive results, which they believe will help us to materialise
the desires and hopes of the rising generations.
Thank you.
Peace and mercy and blessings of Allah
be upon you.
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