St. Petersburg is set to host the second Russia-Africa summit on July 27-28, 2023 and an economic forum that will run alongside the summit. The events were first held on October 22-24, 2019 in Sochi. Here are some details on how the Soviet Union, and later Russia, developed relations with African countries.
History
The first political communication between Russia and African countries dates back to the late 18th century when the Russian Empire sought support from the rulers of Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia in its confrontation with the Ottoman Empire. In 1869, diplomatic relations were established with Tunisia, in 1897 with Morocco, in 1898 with Ethiopia and with the Boer republic of Transvaal.
Following the October Revolution of 1917, Russian-African relations were at a standstill until 1943, when the Soviet Union established official relations with Egypt and Ethiopia. Communication with African countries intensified after the end of World War II when the colonial territories of the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, and Belgium started their struggle for self-determination and independence.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union supported its allies on the continent, including Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956-1957. In addition, the Soviet Union provided military-technical, financial and diplomatic assistance to national liberation organizations and movements fighting against colonialism and racial discrimination regimes in Southern Rhodesia (renamed as Zimbabwe in 1980) and South Africa.
The USSR had the most advanced relations with some countries in North Africa, primarily Egypt, Libya (after that country’s 1969 revolution), Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. In sub-Saharan Africa, the Soviet Union prioritized countries that chose the socialist model of development, such as Tanzania, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, the Republic of Congo, Mali, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Angola, Mozambique, Benin and others, as well as countries that adopted neutrality in their foreign policy, such as Nigeria and Zambia.
An important aspect of Soviet-African cooperation was economic and technical assistance, loans and staff training programs arranged for African countries. The Soviet Union signed agreements on economic and technical cooperation with 37 African countries. Major Soviet projects in Africa included the Aswan High Dam and the Helwan Iron and Steel Factory in Egypt; the Capanda Hydroelectric Power Plant in Angola; a bauxite mining operation in Guinea’s Kindia Region; the El Hadjar Steel Plant in Algeria; a mining and beneficiation plant in the Mfouati District of the Republic of Congo; the Diamou cement plant and the Kalana gold mine in Mali; the Assab oil refinery in Ethiopia; and the Ajaokuta Steel Mill in Nigeria.
In the field of military-technical cooperation, the Soviet Union provided socialist African countries with loans for the purchase of weapons, and sent military specialists to some countries. For example, in 1967 and 1973, the Soviet Union sent military specialists and supplied weapons to Egypt during that country’s clash with Israel, and from 1975 to 1991, Soviet military personnel aided the armed forces of Angola and Mozambique in their struggle against anti-communist groups supported by the racist regimes of Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. According to various estimates, the Soviet Union accounted for up to 40% of arms supplies to Africa. Soviet tanks made up 70% of all tanks in the armed forces of African countries, while Soviet aircraft and helicopters made up 40% and 35% of the total, respectively.
Post-Soviet political cooperation
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reorientation of socialist African countries toward cooperation with Europe and the United States, Russian-African relations remained in the doldrums for a long time. But that was the period when Russia’s relations with South Africa were normalized. In June 1992, the president of South Africa, Frederik de Klerk, paid a visit to Russia. The visit took place as South Africa was gradually backing away from the policy of apartheid and emerging from international isolation.
It wasn’t until the late 1990s that bilateral communication with other countries began to gain momentum, with the visit of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to Moscow in 1997 serving as an impetus. He was followed the next year by heads of state from Namibia, Angola and South Africa. In 2001, leaders from Nigeria, Algeria, Ethiopia, Guinea, and Gabon also visited Russia.
Diplomatic communication between Russia and African countries began to pick up speed steadily after Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Egypt in 2005, Algeria and Morocco in 2006 and Libya in 2008. Regular mutual visits by government officials, parliamentary delegations, representatives of state corporations and private companies became commonplace. In 2006, Vladimir Putin made an official visit to South Africa for talks with the country's president, Thabo Mbeki. That was the first time a Russian head of state traveled to sub-Saharan Africa. Putin subsequently visited Egypt in 2015 and 2017. Political cooperation reached the next level after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's trip to five African countries in March 2018 and Putin's next visit to South Africa in July of the same year.
The Russia-Africa summit and economic forum took place in Sochi on October 23-24, 2019, bringing together representatives of all 54 African countries. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to Egypt, the Republic of Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia in July 2022, then Angola, South Africa, Eswatini and Eritrea in January 2023, and later Mali, Mauritania and Sudan in February 2023, and Kenya, Burundi and Mozambique in May.
In March 2023, Moscow hosted the international parliamentary conference Russia-Africa in a Multipolar World under the auspices of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. In June 2023, a delegation of seven African countries - including the presidents of Zambia, the Comoros, Senegal and South Africa, the prime minister of Egypt and representatives of the Republic of Congo and Uganda - met with Putin in St. Petersburg to offer a proposal to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.
Economic ties
Russia's trade with Africa increased from $1 billion in 1995 to $6.7 billion in 2007. According to the most recent data from the Federal Customs Service of Russia, the trade reached $17.7 billion in 2021, up 22% from 2020. Of that, Russian exports totaled $14.7 bln. Trade with Africa made up 2.3% of Russia's total foreign trade.
Between 2001 and 2008, Russia wrote off more than $20 billion in debt owed by African countries on Soviet loans, including by Angola, Ethiopia, Algeria and Libya.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Russian government-owned and private companies started doing business in some African states. Among them were Alrosa, Lukoil, Gazprom, Renova, Rusal, Rosatom, Rosneft, Severstal and later its spin-off Nordgold. In 2006, Russia’s Vneshtorgobank opened an office in Angola called VTB Africa, becoming the first Russian financial institution to have a presence on the continent. As of today, some Russian companies have pulled out from projects in African countries. Russia is planning a new major joint project in Africa: a Russian industrial zone in Egypt, near Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea.
Military cooperation
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia is currently the largest arms supplier to Africa. During 2017-2021, its share of the continent’s arms market stood at 44%, compared with the US share of 17% and China’s share of 10%. About 60% of Russian military exports went to Algeria, with Egypt, Angola, Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia also among the largest buyers. According to the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, the backlog of contracts with African countries was valued at $14 billion as of 2021, with sub-Saharan countries making up more than $3 billion of that amount. Russia’s weapons exporter Rosoboronexport has estimated contracts signed with sub-Saharan countries in 2021 alone were worth to the tune of 2.5 billion euros.
Humanitarian ties
The number of African students studying in Russia has increased from 9,000 in 2008 to 35,000 in 2023, according to an article by President Vladimir Putin. The Russian budget is paying for the education of more than 6,000 of them. They are mainly students from Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Angola, DRC and the Republic of Congo. There are Russian Centers of Science and Culture in eight African countries: Egypt, Zambia, Morocco, Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, Ethiopia and South Africa.
According to the latest available data from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Russia donated a total of $270 million to African countries between 2010 and 2018. During the coronavirus pandemic, Russia supplied vaccines, medications, personal protective equipment and sent medical professionals to nearly 20 African countries.