The Berlin, West Africa Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting at which the major European powers negotiated and formalized claims to territory in Africa. This started the Scramble for Africa. Great Britain, France, and Germany began looking to Africa for natural resources for their growing industrial sectors as well as a potential market for the goods these factories produced. The governments thereon began to safeguard their commercial interests in Africa and began to secure treaties from indigenous peoples or their supposed representatives.
The same is in play today as Africa is becoming “partner of choice” for developed countries on everything from growing their economies to protecting their borders. This is because Africa hosts 30% of the world’s mineral reserves. Around 60% of the total mining in Africa is of gold, which contributes to 22% of the world production. World’s 55% of diamonds are mined in Africa. Africa will add 796 million people the global workforce by 2050 as it will be home to the largest youngest population of the world. Moreover, Africa is undergoing a major shift towards providing service rather than being dependent on agriculture and extraction of minerals. By 2040 Africa will have 31 cities with a population of more than 5 million, currently there are only 12.
The African Landscape Today
China, India, Japan, South Korea and the ASEAN share the African geopolitical space today with the US and EU. They also are major investors in Africa as well as providers of development assistance. The US, which was focused on terrorism and other non-military threats after 9/11, is paying attention to Africa’s new geopolitics. Russia, is now engaging with Africa more than ever before as are many other regional actors like Iran, UAE, Qatar,Saudi Arabia and Turkey, who are taking a growing interest in African security.
Russia and China are seizing political, economic and military initiative in Africa in ways that could alter the global balance of power. Mainly China and Russia apart from India, Japan and South Korea view Africa as an opportunity to be seized. From 2007-2017 the US trade with Africa dropped by 54% while China’s trade grew by 220%. Russia’s total investment in Africa is growing by 40% since 2015. In 2019, Russia held the firstever Russia-Africa summit hosting 45 African Heads of State. China holds a similar event called the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation. India organises CII- EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership.
Sub-Saharan Africa in the centre of the crescent or “arc of instability” stretching from the Andean region of Latin America across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and the Caucasus and through the Northern parts of South Asia. It remains the most vulnerable to economic disruption, population stresses, civil conflict, and political instability as increased profits from oil, gas and metals is used to entrench corrupt or otherwise ill-equipped governments in several regions, diminishing the prospects for democratic and market-based reforms.
There is presence of foreign militaries in around 25 African countries. They often lease territories to foreign powers for military bases, mainly for domestic economic gain. Countries are also seeking external help in dealing with their internal serious security challenges. The US drone attacks in Somalia have helped reduce al-Shabaab’s capacity and French troops have contributed significantly in building the capacity of national armies in the Sahel and driving out jihadists. The competition among the various foreign militaries to respond to hotspots in Africa has led to a multiplicity of activities that overcrowd the security landscape, especially in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. This has also led to rivalry between foreign armies playing out in Africa may potentially have a destabilising impact on the continent.
Corruption is high, Press freedom low and climate change is severe in Africa, this is a fundamental threat to peace and security as it is a cause of conflict by generating new grievances in society or driving existing ones. Extreme digital divide exists in Africa. Only 45% of the population using mobile services and 26% use smart phones. Of these 29% use internet in comparison to 51% in the world. A 2020 UNCTAD report estimated that $88.6 billion which is equivalent of 3.7 percent of Africa’s GDP, leaves the continent annually as illicit capital flight.
Apart from the Russian Wagner Group hired by the Central African Republic amongst others, South Africa’s Dyck Advisory Group was hired by the Mozambican government to combat Al-Shabaab jihadist violence in Cabo Delgado in the north of the country. US companies like the CACI and Academi are among the most prominent private military companies present on the African continent. In addition to these the French company Secopex, Great Britain’s Aegis Defence Services & G4S, Omega Consulting Group of Ukraine and Xeless from Germany are also active in Africa. Mostly these Private Military Companies follow the resources for protection arrangement by enabling their owned / backed firms to get contracts for the mining.
Globalization has created opportunities in African countries, but economies have not transformed enough to move away from dependence on raw materials to production, thus many remain on the bottom rungs of global supply chains.
Africa – Towards Growth and Prosperity
Thirty-four countries, i.e. about 72 percent of Africa’s citizens, have improved their governance performance since 2010 in terms of participation, rule of law, rights, transparency and accountability.
The grain yields have increased in Southern and Eastern regions of Africa and they are fast developing close trade and strategic ties with East and South Asian countries. This leads to that region being most stable and promising sub-region politically and economically, with 5 African nations being among the top ten fastest growing economies. In this Age of Disruptions, the Continental Free Trade Agreement has the potential to be a game changer. Africa is currently trading more with the other regions of the world than within the continent. With a view of increasing trade amongst African countries, the African Union has facilitated the creation Africa Economic Zones Organization, African Free Trade Zone and African Continental Free Trade Area.
Proposed highways and high speed railways to connect the African continent have been envisaged by the African Union. This would help accelerate growth and prosperity in the region. For the first time, an African country reported collecting additional taxes worth €10.6 million through the use of common reporting standard data. Around 23 countries are party to the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, to tackle tax evasion.
Africa led peace operations are a crucial tool for Peace and Security in Africa. This would invariably lessen the dependency of African countries on foreign militaries and the UN. In almost all multilateral peace operations that were active as of May 2023 in Africa, in many troubled regions AU forces are deployed along side UN force.
China in Africa
China has emerged as Saharan Africa’s largest trading partner (exports and imports) in the last 20 years with one-fifth of the region’s total goods exports and the single largest source of imports after initiating its official “go out” policy.
China is focusing on emerging lithium supply centres as this is a crucial metal used in electric vehicles. It is also focusing on bauxite, Iron and Uranium. The maritime Silk Road is connecting China’s eastern seaboard with the Indian Ocean littoral, by development of 47 ports in sub-Saharan Africa. Under the Digital Silk Route in Africa, Chinese provision digital infrastructures and solutions such as the Smart City and Safe City initiatives. The bundled solutions address terrorism, crime and e-governence, thus tying the beneficiaries to proprietary technologies and entrench Chinese technological standards, giving competitive advantage to Chinese firms.
At the 2021 China-Africa Cooperation Forum, China announced its first cutback in financial support to Africa, from $60 billion to $40 billion over three years. Currently, 22 African countries with low-income status are either already facing severe debt distress or are at a high risk of facing such distress. In addition, approximately 50% of China’s lending to developing African countries is not included in official debt statistics. Furthermore, loans provided by China to African countries come with higher interest rates of 4% compared to loans from Western sources which are at 1%. Chinese projects often seem to go hand in hand with civil protests.
Confucius Institutes promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally and facilitate cultural exchanges. These are used as influence platforms and have a role as intelligence cover. A total of 61 Confucius Institutes, 48 Confucius Classrooms have been established in Africa. China launched a 2015 initiative to put satellite televisions in 10,000 African villages, these came with free, pre-loaded access to Chinese stations, pumping state-sponsored content.
Over the last few years, it has emerged as the largest major arms supplier to Sub-Saharan Africa. Around 40 African countries have some kind of agreement with Chinese public security agencies and extradition treaties with 13 African countries. A large number of African police and law enforcement personnel and magistrates have received training in China. In Africa, China operates overseas police stations in Benin City, Nigeria Maseru in Lesotho and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. With the help of these police posts / service stations, the Chinese government is also influencing the elections in the respective countries. Furthermore, these stations are controlling the activities of the Overseas Chinese Diaspora.
Chinese companies collect massive amounts of metadata, using which they better tailor their products and services to consumers, allowing them to gain influence to shape developments and policies in these markets. There is a possibility that such data would be passed on to African states with authoritarian tendencies to subvert democratic processes or control citizens. There also have been allegations of China hacking into computers at the African Union’s Headquarters in 2018.
India and Africa
Historical ties with Africa started in 1955 when the governments of Burma, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka co-sponsored the Bandung Conference and they brought together an additional twenty-four nations from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The delegates built upon Panchsheel (the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence) as they sought to build solidarity among the recently independent nations. India has always believed in “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – the World is One Family. Therefore, India engages with each country as an equal and focuses on common aspirations.
President Trump at the 2017 APEC Summit in Vietnam envisioned of Indo-Pacific partnership to check the rise of China. The Indo-Pacific partnership has put India into centre stage. This has led to strategic convergence with the US that would help to contain China’s hegemony India’s geopolitical interests includes the South-South cooperation, UNSC reforms, Competition with China, Cooperation in global issues such as climate change and WTO reforms. The Geo-economic interest of energy security, rare earth minerals, the supply of Uranium, other mineral resources and a growing population of Africa provides for new opportunities for goods and services exports from India. Geostrategic interest entails the Maritime security especially on the East coast of Africa. These countries are important for peace and prosperity of the Indian Ocean region, trade relations across and beyond Africa and also the interests of Indian diasporas in Africa.
For India to progress and secure its geostrategic interests, India has embarked on an ‘African Safari’ as Africa is no longer a “Hopeless Continent” but “A Hopeful Continent” due to its resources, market and aspirations.
To offset China’s influence in Africa, India has been acutely responsive to the changing priorities and requirements of African countries. India’s main aim is to help with human resource development in Africa contrary to what China is doing i.e. imposing their culture and exploiting the natural resources with no benefit to the citizens of those countries. There has been unprecedented outreach of India to Africa in the last five years with many important visits to Africa.
Economic Measures
India has increased its credit flow to Africa, making Africa the second-largest beneficiary of Indian credit. Forty-two African nations received about $12 billion or 38% of all credit extended by India in the last decade. India has established over 195 project-based lines of credit throughout Africa. Africa has made good use of credit lines, with projects that include health care, infrastructure, agriculture, irrigation, energy, transportation, social housing, water and defence. India is seeing a steady increase in demand as these projects bring a lot of benefits to the economy.
This is in contrast to China as India lets the African governments decide what they need and doesn’t burden them with the sort of projects that Beijing is often critiqued for. Training decision makers from African countries on the dual problems of centralized decision-making and poor regulation of Chinese investment can be a possible start that could enable the African countries to avoid extravagant and exploitative interactions, pushing back on such schemes by China. China’s loans to Africa may have dipped, but they are still 11 times higher.
India’s CII- EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership is a regular feature since 2005. These editions now focus on infrastructure development, trade finance, education & training, agriculture & food processing, consultancy services and healthcare, investments, exchange of knowledge and expertise creating shared value for business and industry, in addition to other areas where Indian companies have steadily increased their presence over the years in Africa.
The four major focus areas for the India-Africa partnership are military exchanges in the context of the security of the Indian Ocean, physical and digital infrastructure, health care, pharma & vaccines and start-up ecosystem. The African nations have benefited from India’s Duty Free Tariff Preference scheme which provides duty-free access to 98.2 percent of India’s total tariff lines. The trade between India and African countries has been balanced with exports of trade and services of about $40 billion and imports of $49 billion.
India’s Ties with Africa
India has also always stood by its friends in times of need by extending support in the form of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, often as a first responder. India elevated the engagement with Africa by hosting a summit in Delhi for all the African leaders, unveiling sustained high-level political contact, expanding India’s diplomatic footprint, strengthening economic engagement and boosting military diplomacy. India focuses on four areas of cooperation with Africa i.e. maritime cooperation, connectivity, UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and economic development.
The Indian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been actively promoting stronger ties with Africa, aiming to enhance economic and diplomatic connections. Over the past nine years, India has established 18 out of 25 new embassies or consulates in African countries.
The Prime Minister has also been actively promoting India as a prominent voice for the Global South as a single political actor by organising the online Voice of Global South Summit in January 2023. To counter China and be less dependent on Russia the formulation of the Global South strategy became a new axis of India’s diplomacy. This strategy benefit’s African countries and India as India understands the North-South problem. India is a member of the AU Partners Group (since AU’s inception), which meets periodically in Addis Ababa. Requests are made to India to conduct sector specific training courses for country specific requirements under our ITEC programme, which spans more than 160 countries. Democracy brings about a different set of priorities and accordingly, the type of request for development partnership also changes. The ITEC programme is being transformed into new and innovative areas like e-ITEC to reach larger numbers. The new tele education and tele medicine project ‘eVidya Bharti e Arogya Bharti’ (eVBAB) will bring India and Africa even closer. India is now getting into Trilateral Cooperation with third countries for taking up projects in Africa.
The changing face of security and defence in the African continent as Africa is more acutely aware now than ever before the need to combat violence, radicalization and terrorism if development has to become sustainable. Indian peacekeepers in over a dozen UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, since our first mission in Congo in 1960. Today, over 5,000 Indians serve in five peacekeeping operations in Africa. Indian women established a landmark with the first all female Police Unit of the United Nations in Liberia. The defence and security cooperation is growing with nations in Africa, for counter terrorism and piracy and keeping our seas secure. Indian Military Training Teams are being deputed to their National Defence Academies of many African countries starting with Uganda a few years back. Nigeria has signed a USD 1 billion deal with India to boost defence industry.
On 9 September 2023, members of G-20 unanimously accepted India’s proposal of converting the African Union’s permanent guest status to permanent membership, this lends India huge diplomatic clout in Africa. Gain for India from African Union’s entry in G-20 are immense as it solidifies India’s status as a key player in global governance, a nation championing inclusivity and diversity on the international stage and also highlights the debt challenges faced by developing economies. This also helps India in gaining a unique opportunity by India to create a more diverse and representative platform, aligning perfectly with India’s own global aspirations to foster a multipolar world.
As countries in the Global South continue to rise in prominence, it would be imperative for the institutions like G-20 to become more reflective of today’s diverse global landscape & the membership in the G-20 would give African nations a direct say in tackling major global challenges, including economic growth, climate change, and sustainable development.
India’s efforts in offering African countries a platform to represent their economic interests at a global level might get translated into trust, which will improve economic, strategic and diplomatic relations between India and African States. The permanent membership of the AU at G20 is also in sync with India’s aspiration for permanent membership in the UNSC, as support from the AU, which has 55 votes will be crucial. Keeping in mind India’s selected theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future” in the G20 Presidency. The Indian government is now viewed as a dependable partner.
The Path forward
India lacks diplomatic presence in Africa as India has an embassy only in 29 out of 54 African countries, therefore India must boost its presence in all African countries. A lot of African countries are suffering from political instability, thus pan African strategies will not work as Africa is not homogenous, thus India could have ties with the multiple regional associations of Africa and individual countries to mutually benefit.
Developing countries are already looking to partner African countries in their developmental path. In Africa’s pursuance of “Africa-owned” and “Africa-led” development, India’s endeavour to base the partnership on the principles of equality, mutual respect, solidarity and mutual benefit would go a long way. Sustained connection with the people of Indian origin who have played a key role in socio-economic development of their adopted countries in Africa, is vital as they will continue to be a living bridge.
India could help Africa to leapfrog into Industry 4.0. as Africa searches for modern technology that will positively impact the lives of its citizens. India has made this journey and development partnership should be versatile, technology intensive and a vehicle for sharing cutting edge technology, especially digital technology and artificial intelligence. The first pilot e-ITEC course was conducted for two countries in Africa on Big Data Analytics with Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Going forward India should work with Africa to address the challenge of the knowledge, technology and digital divides, so that the 4th industrial revolution is an inclusive one.
India hosts a multinational military exercise ‘AFINDEX’ with militaries of African countries. In addition to this India also hosted the first Army Chiefs conference. This could become a regular feature with more permanent joint training teams like the one in Uganda stationed across Africa. Alumni relations with personnel trained in India and personnel trained by Indians in Africa should be developed for increased cooperation.
ITEC scheme should be enhance to more African countries and unused vacancies could be allocated to other countries. Yoga institutes, Ayurvedic institutes and increase in cultural programmes should help a great deal in establishing people to people contact. Scholarships to more students on exchange programmes should help in creating a bond amongst the future leaders.
