Day: August 12, 2022

We're not in competition: That was the line from both the United States and China as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Africa this week, but analysts said the trip was indeed aimed at, among other things, countering Beijing's massive influence on the continent.

Blinken denied repeatedly on his three-country tour that this was the case — stressing African agency and autonomy — while China dismissed his comments and accused the U.S. of having a contradictory sub-Saharan Africa policy.

Analysts said the trip was also aimed at trying to counter Moscow’s influence and shore up African support for Washington’s position on the war in Ukraine, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited the region last month.

Russia came up time and again during Blinken’s meetings with his counterparts in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, with the secretary of state blaming African food insecurity squarely on President Vladimir Putin and warning countries against Russian’s “proxy force” the Wagner Group. But it was China’s far more influential presence on the continent that was the elephant in the room.

“The continent as a whole has for some years now been seen by the great powers as a place to exert influence,” said Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, head of the South African Institute for International Affairs in Johannesburg, pointing to Russia and China as the U.S.’s main competitors.

“Certainly there is concern from the American side on the growing influence of these two countries on the continent against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical rivalries,” she told VOA.

Throughout his trip, Blinken was at pains to stress the U.S. was not making Africa “choose.”

“Our commitment to a stronger partnership with Africa is not about trying to outdo anyone else. We’ve all heard that narrative, that South Africa and the continent as a whole are the latest playing field in the competition between great powers. That is fundamentally not how we see it,” he said at a news conference in Pretoria.

For her part, South Africa’s outspoken Minister for International Relations Naledi Pandor said she was “glad” the region was not being asked to choose, adding, “African countries that wish to relate to China, let them do so, whatever the particular form of relationships would be.”

“We can’t be made party to conflict between China and the United States of America, and I may say it does cause instability for all of us because it affects the global economic system. … These are two great powers, the two biggest economies in the world. They’ve got to find a way of working together to allow us to grow,” she added.

China’s response to U.S. strategy

At a regular Chinese Foreign Ministry news conference in Beijing during Blinken’s visit, spokesman Wang Wenbin was asked about Blinken’s comments that African countries didn’t have to choose a side.

“It is not important what the U.S. says. What matters is how [the] African people see China-Africa cooperation,” he said, going on to list Chinese-built infrastructure on the continent as tangible results of “practical cooperation.” China is Africa’s largest trading partner.

“The U.S. must not underestimate African countries’ judgment. We believe the African people are sharp-eyed. If the U.S. truly wants to help Africa, then it should take concrete actions, instead of using its Africa strategy as a tool to contain and attack other countries,” Wang said.

While in South Africa, America’s top diplomat unveiled the U.S. Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa, which addresses a wide range of issues including conflict prevention, trade and climate change. It also advocates for democracy and human rights, whereas China’s investment is no strings attached.

Despite Blinken’s insistence that Washington is not competing with Beijing in Africa, one section of the strategy reads that China sees Africa as “an important arena to challenge the rules-based international order, advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests, undermine transparency and openness, and weaken U.S. relations with [the] African peoples and governments.” The document also mentioned Russia’s interests and influence in Africa.

“The United States is both responding to growing foreign activity and influence in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as engaging in a region undergoing significant transformations to its socioeconomic, political, and security landscape,” stated the White House document.

China has dismissed the strategy outright.

An article in state newspaper The Global Times quoted Chinese analysts as saying the U.S. attitude to Africa was a “contradiction,” on the one hand saying Africa would not be forced to choose, while at the same time “smearing China.”

The Chinese Embassy in Pretoria also criticized the policy, saying: “Africa is not an arena for superpower games but a major stage for international cooperation. It is hoped that the U.S. will abandon its Cold War mentality … and focus more on supporting Africa's urgent development needs, instead of basing its policy on containing other countries' influence in Africa.”

Response from African countries

Pandor, South Africa’s minister for international relations, also criticized the West for sometimes taking a “bullying” attitude to the continent and raised issues of hypocrisy and political interference. But she was not the only official on the continent to push back somewhat against the U.S. during Blinken’s trip.

In Rwanda, Blinken raised the issue of jailed dissident Paul Rusesabagina, expressing concern over his conviction. Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said, “Rwanda will continue to abide by our rules, and the decisions that were made by our judiciary. And we request our partners to respect Rwanda’s sovereignty, Rwanda’s laws and its institutions.”

Bob Wekesa, head of the African Center for the Study of the United States at Witwatersrand University, said that in terms of how African leaders saw Blinken’s visit, they have learned how to play both sides.

“African countries really have refined the art of playing all these powers, when they meet with U.S. leaders … they seem to say, ‘Yes, we value the relationship with the U.S.’ When they meet with the Chinese, they’re likely to say the same,” he told VOA.

“So, it’s kind of a splintered world in which African leaders look in all direction(s) for whatever they can gain from these powers.”

Source: Voice of America

The first U.N.-chartered vessel set to transport grain from Ukraine to Africa docked Friday in Ukraine.

The vessel will carry the first shipment of humanitarian food to Africa under a U.N.-backed plan to move grain trapped by Russia’s war on Ukraine and to help relieve a global food crisis.

Previous ships with grain that were allowed to leave Ukraine under the deal were not humanitarian, and their cargoes had been purchased by other nations or vendors.

Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure, wrote in a tweet that the newly docked vessel would be loaded with 23,000 metric tons of grain bound for Ethiopia. The African nation, along with Somalia and Kenya, is facing the region's worst drought in four decades.

“The wheat grain will go to the World Food Program’s operations in Ethiopia, supporting WFP’s Horn of Africa drought response as the threat of famine stalks the drought-hit region,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Friday.

"It is one of many areas around the world where the near complete halt of Ukrainian grain and food on the global market has made life even harder for families already struggling with rising hunger,” he said.

The ship MV Brave Commander arrived Friday in Yuzhne, Ukraine, east of Odesa on the Black Sea coast. After being loaded with wheat it will travel to Djibouti, where the grain will be unloaded and sent to Ethiopia, according to the United Nations.

Around 20 million metric tons of grain has been unable to leave Ukraine since Russia's February invasion of the country.

On July 22, Kyiv and Moscow signed a landmark agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Black Sea grain deliveries.

Turkey has opened a special facility in Istanbul at the mouth of the Black Sea to oversee the exports. It is staffed by civilian and military officials from the warring sides and delegates from Turkey and the U.N.

Source: Voice of America

Alarm at shelling of Ukrainian nuclear plant

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday that a preliminary assessment from his agency’s experts concluded that there was no immediate threat to nuclear safety following shelling around a major nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, but he cautioned that “could change at any moment.” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told the U.N. Security Council that he and a team of experts need to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as soon as possible.

U.N. encouraged by movement of grain ships from Ukraine

The U.N. representative at the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center, which oversees the agreement among Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N. to export Ukrainian grain trapped in Black Sea ports, said Wednesday that 370,000 tons of food stuffs had moved in the first week since the deal was implemented.

On Friday, as we went to press, a U.N.-chartered ship was about to dock at Ukraine’s Yuzhny (Pivdennyi) port to collect wheat purchased by the World Food Program. It is the first shipment of humanitarian food assistance under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the other ships have been fulfilling pre-existing commercial contracts. The 23,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat will go to WFP operations in Ethiopia, that are supporting the massive Horn of Africa drought response, where more than 21 million people face high levels of food insecurity after four failed rainy seasons.

Truce between Israel and Palestinian militants holding, but fragile

U.N. Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland told Security Council members Monday from Jerusalem that a tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants was holding. The Egyptian and U.N.-brokered cease-fire went into effect late Sunday, after two and a half days of violence that killed 46 Palestinians, including 15 children. As we went to press Friday, the situation remained calm. It was the worst Israeli-Palestinian escalation in more than a year.

In brief

— The World Food Program and the U.N. Refugee Agency, joined by the Ethiopian government, appealed Tuesday for $73 million to provide food rations over the next six months to more than 750,000 refugees in Ethiopia. They warned that the WFP will completely run out of food for refugees by October. A lack of cash has already forced the WFP to cut rations for 750,000 refugees living in Afar, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Somali and Tigray regions of Ethiopia.

— The World Meteorological Organization said this week that July was one of the three warmest months globally on record, despite a weak La Nina event, which is supposed to have a cooling influence. Meteorologists warn the heatwave that swept through large parts of Europe last month is set to continue in August. The WMO says Europe and other parts of the world will have to get used to and adapt to the kind of heatwaves WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas calls “the new normal.”

— The International Labor Organization says the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the youth labor market. The organization’s “Global Employment Trends for 2022” report released this week, found that job prospects for young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are lagging behind other age groups. The data estimate the total global number of unemployed youths will reach 73 million this year. While that is a slight improvement from 2021 levels, the ILO says the number of young people without jobs is still 6 million above the pre-pandemic level of 2019. Arab states had the highest and fastest growing youth unemployment rate.

Good news

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that globally, the number of new COVID-19 cases remained stable during the first week of August, as compared to the previous week, with over 6.9 million new reported cases. Weekly deaths were down by 9%, with over 14,000 fatalities reported, as compared to the previous week. The WHO says that as of August 7, there were 581.8 million confirmed cases of the virus and 6.4 million deaths reported globally.

Quote of note

“Any attack to a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing and I hope that those attacks will end, and at the same time I hope that the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] will be able to have access to the plant and to exercise its mandated competencies.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to reporters in Tokyo Monday, responding to a question about shelling around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

What we are watching next week

August 15 will mark one year since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The United Nations has warned that the country’s economic and financial crisis, as well as severe drought, has left more than 24 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The U.N. has also criticized the Taliban for reneging on its pledge not to roll back the rights of women and girls, which it has done.

Did you know?

The U.N. secretary-general received the gift of a horse named “Hope” in Mongolia during a visit there this week that highlighted that country’s commitment to non-proliferation and disarmament as a nuclear-weapon-free zone. Mongolia, known for its vast steppes and deserts, has also embarked on the goal of planting 1 billion trees by 2030. Antonio Guterres’ spokesman said that Hope the horse would remain in Mongolia, where she would be well-cared for.

Source: Voice of America