For all its efforts to sow chaos and conflict, Russia remains a bit player in Africa
2017 Faustin Archange Touadéra was in a difficult spot. The president of the Central African Republic , one of the world’s poorest and most fragile countries, was struggling to quell a dozen or so militias that threatened his regime. A year earlier France had withdrawn troops from its former colony. An arms embargo meant that the government ofcould not equip its own soldiers.
Russia has a long history of intervening in Africa. Its volunteers fought the British in the second Boer war. During the cold war the Soviet Union inculcated post-colonial leaders in Marxism-Leninism and backed liberation movements in countries such as Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau, often as part of proxy wars with the West.
Russia does not just supply arms, however. In several countries it has become deeply involved in internal affairs. These engagements reflect the defining theme of Russia’s Africa policy: opportunism. One of Mr Putin’s skills is an ability to spot openings presented by a mix of fragile states and a distracted West. Once it has identified an opportunity, the Kremlin looks to increase its influence and to make money for cronies who operate on its license.
A closer look reveals Russia’s limits. Its favoured candidates did not win in Madagascar or Congo. Its attempts to prop up Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s former dictator, failed earlier this year. And it could not get a nuclear-energy deal with South Africa, despite wooing the allegedly corrupt former president, Jacob Zuma.
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