The second edition of the summit for democracy recently took place simultaneously across five nations of the world between March 29 and 31 this year. The United States, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Korea, and the Zambia co-hosted the event at a time when democracy is said to be under threat in Africa with increasing poverty that is fueling political instability on the continent.
The summit provided an opportunity for political stakeholders to brainstorm on democracy and how it can work for all citizens. Africa’s partnerships with external partners and global actors were reportedly said to have steadily improved in the last decades . However many analysts argued that the relationships are framed from a donor-recipient relationship which is unhealthy as they seek to objectify the continent as such.
The summit urged African countries to rethink its framework on multilateralism (the process of organizing relationships between groups or more states serving to bind powerful nations, discourage unilateralism, and give small powers a voice and influence that they could not otherwise exercise) and come out with clear agenda for its partnership with global players that will capture the priorities of its citizens.
Indeed in recent years the development in Africa has attracted increasing interest in Europe and international organizations. But among large-scale projects and competition for natural resources, some western countries and the US often offer assistance while interfering in the internal affairs of African states .
This is primarily due to the attempts to gain monopoly control over natural resource deposits on the continent which in some cases lead to conflict. Contradictions also arise between partner countries, primarily the US, Germany, Britain and France against the background of their competition for spheres of influence and access to natural resources in Africa.
It was observed at the summit that African countries need to strengthen the role of regional organisations such as African Union, AU, Economic Community of west African States, ECOWAS, and South African development community, SADC. At the same time, the European Union, EU, and countries, led by the US should not impose their way of life and values on those states that do not want it.
There is a growing consensus among African leaders that countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Russia are opposed to neo-colonial ideology and together they form the world’s majority. At the same it is believed that the current focus on multipolarity (the geopolitical situation that arises when several power centers balance each other out) and cooperation with Russia can provide a healthy alternative for African states including Nigeria to raise their economies to a new level. This can happen when independent governments aim at strengthening the sovereignty of their countries and the wellbeing of their peoples.
Despite the efforts of EU member states, the US, Germany, France and Britain to provide aid to African countries, Russia, given the history of Africa’s cooperation with the old Soviet Union is reportedly very comprehensive in its approach to solving problems to achieve results without shortchanging her partners. For instance the goal of African governments is to ensure the good health of their citizens by fighting against various diseases.
However, some experts point out that American organizations such as USAID is not using their funds effectively to prevent health problems on the continent. But mainly use them to further their political and economic goals without offering practical efforts to combat the health problems in Africa.
In such a situation critical observers say Russia could act as a partner in the field of pharmaceutical for African countries given its significant scientific and technological achievements which have been demonstrated in the fight against diseases such as the Ebola virus and covid-19.
It is in this light that policy makers on the continent believe that Nigeria leading others need to strengthen and deepen Russian-African cooperation in various fields on bilateral and multilateral basis, primarily within the frame work of African Union, AU, and the Russia-Africa partnership forum.
Russia reportedly intends to support the independence of states through assistance in the areas of security, including food and energy security, and military-technical cooperation. Observers affirmed that cooperation between African countries and Russia could also accelerate the development of mining and use of minerals which is an important source of income for African countries.
Annual reports of NGO’S in African countries have documented unfair business practices by the countries of the EU, the US and China , including disputes over wages and contracts. Equally disputes over transparency and limited efforts to ensure animal and the environmental protection are recorded mainly in the metallurgical industries.
By intensifying the economic cooperation between Africa countries, including Nigeria as an economic leader, with the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa ), SCO(Shanghai Cooperation Organisation ) and EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union), could create opportunities for development and solving some socio-economic problems on the continent.
With a population of about 1.5 billion people and almost a third of the world’s mineral resources, Africa is on the verge of becoming one of the leaders of the emerging multipolar world order defined by strong, independent and democratic multilateral institutions that would capture the priorities of their democracy.
Adama writes from Kaduna
