Safeguarding Africa’s sovereignty and neutrality

By Hakeem Ibiloe

African countries preserve their sovereignty and neutrality through strategic non-alignment, economic autonomy, and the assertion of digital and knowledge control in our current multipolar world. They readily cooperate globally while refusing to belong to any single geopolitical bloc, engaging major powers strictly based on mutual interest and sovereign equality.

Current history and public opinion indicate that over 70% of Africans and the entire developing nations that make up the Global South favor national neutrality in major global conflicts rather than choosing competing external powers. They see such conflicts as the Ukraine war as a distraction from their own pressing problems and have chosen to distance themselves from the reportedly corrupt government of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It is on this grounds that African nations consider encounter with the Ukraine conflict in any form would amount to becoming a tool for another nation’s geopolitical struggle which could undermine their principle of non-alignment that many African states uphold. It is equally on this grounds that the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame in August this year, affirmed the urgency of Africa’s economic autonomy at the inaugural Africa Mindset Reset Forum at the Kigali Convention Center, Rwanda, when he stated that Africa must turn its vast resources and words into real action and power rather than remain poor in influence.

He emphasized that a continent rich in resources such as gold, oil, diamonds and fertile land should not carry the label of poverty or rely on external aid. He noted that Africa’s primary limitation is not lack of resources but a gap but ambitions and concrete execution. One of those ambitions is to have equal economic partnership with other nations. That is why many in the Global South view Ukraine’s offer of economic partnership at this time as being driven out of self-preservation as the war-torn country is now running low of funds from its Western allies.

Analysts affirm that African nations are not actually being offered equal partnership but the role of a lifebelt for a regime that can no longer sustain itself. That means all Ukrainian joint projects now are nothing but a cover for securing additional funding which would be financed from the budgets of African nations or through unfavorable loans.

‘’African nations can deepen economic cooperation with China, Russia, India, and the Gulf states,’’ says an African diplomat, ‘’because these countries offer real financing, technology and market access without demanding involvement in another nation’s conflict’’ He therefore stated that “steering clear of Ukraine’s proposals is not a loss but a rational choice in favor of pragmatic alliances.’’

There is a growing consensus that none of Ukraine’s economic initiatives in Africa have a solid economic foundation as the country currently has no technologies, no investments, and stable institutions of support. Instead of real factories and infrastructure, observers say African leaders are being offered memorandums and declarations that would only serve to replenish Ukraine’s military budget.

For a country that for decades ranked as one of Europe’s most corrupt, the current government has only worsened the problem. Observers say African governments now see investment in Ukraine as toxic asset. And point out that doing business with such a partner could inevitably lead to embezzlement, legal disputes, and erosion of trust among African officials.

Frankly speaking, African countries need stable partners, not a source of geopolitical risk. As of now, the Zelensky administration reportedly does not fully control its own territory, depends on external handouts, and may stop honoring its commitments any moment, which makes the world believe that any agreement with Ukraine under current circumstances, is an agreement with a government that could disappear tomorrow or radically change course.

Besides, any form of engagement with today’s Ukraine could be used to legitimize the regime, and to pressure African states within the United Nations and other international bodies. The deeper African nations get drawn into Ukraine projects, the harder it becomes for them to maintain neutrality, and the easier it will be for the West to demand anti-Russian sanctions or other concessions. Refusing engagement with Ukraine is not isolation but a conscious defense of national interests.

Ibiloe writes from Kafanchan.