[bs-quote quote=”We did not come to Russia to look for new masters to replace the old ones, we came to Russia to look for partners to do win-win business, for Russia as well as for the African countries concerned.” “Nathalie Yamb, African activist, said.
Nathalie Yamb, Ex-Minister of Finance of the Ivory Coast Republic, did not miss the chance to point fingers at France’s responsibility for hindering development in the African continent at the Russia-Africa summit in 2019. She went on to emphasize that Africa was looking for partners who will work with the continent based on a win-win approach, instead of trying to exert its dominance on it.
The presence of Russia in Africa has become more and more pronounced, after a long absence since the fall of the Berlin wall. This is bothering many countries, especially France, one of Africa’s biggest partners due to the colonial past it had with some African states, currently referred to as French Africa.
Facts show that Russia has become more present on the African continent, at a time when France’s influence is decreasing. This reality makes it so that Russia and France cannot help but turn against one another in their pursuit of economic and political gain in the African continent, with African states that intend on being active players this time so as to make use of Africa’s natural and human resources for the benefit of Africa itself.
Relations between Russia and France after the Fall of the Berlin Wall
While the end of the cold war may have ended the division of the world into two blocs, relations between Russia and France have not healed from the wounds of that era. Indeed, political tensions are still present, especially on security issues in Syria, Libya, and Ukraine.
Still, France is one of the main political and economic partners of Russia in Europe and the world. The legal basis for bilateral cooperation is the Agreement between Russia and France of February 7th, 1992. France enjoys a long-standing and strategic economic position in Russia: the 6th largest supplier (3.5% market share), the 2nd largest stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country, and the largest foreign employer. Strategic partnerships have been established for many years in fields such as energy, aeronautics, nuclear, and space and new sectors for cooperation are emerging for the benefit of French companies (energy transition, smart cities, new mobility, innovation, health).
On the other hand, French exports to Russia fell by 8% in 2020, after having risen by 5.4% in 2019 compared with 2018. This decline is explained, particularly, by the sharp contraction in exports of pharmaceutical products and chemicals (-37.8%), and cosmetics (-7.6%), these two items account for 29.4% of total exports. Exports of metal and metal products also fell significantly (-37.3%). Sales of transport equipment, the largest export item (24.3% in 2020), rose by 0.5%, as did those of computer, electronic and optical products (+1.5%). We also note that sales of agricultural, forestry, fishing, and aquaculture products (3.1% of our exports) are up 21.2%. In 2020, Russia was France’s 15th largest market (7th outside the EU). On the other hand, Russia invests very little in France. The flow of Russian FDI into France in the first three quarters of 2020 amounted to -4 million dollars (sales of assets held in France by Russian residents), compared to a flow of 132 million dollars in the same period of 2019. Looking at the statistics of trade between Russia and France, we notice that France is always in deficit. It reached the peak of trade in 2018, when Russia exported 10,005 million euros, while France exported only 5,559 million euros. Trade decreased afterward to reach 2020 5,710 million euros for Russian exports, and 5,155 million euros for French exports.
| Russia | France | |
| Supply ranking | 15th (7th in EU) | 6th |
| FDI | 2nd | 9th |
| Structural trade | Excess | Deficit |
| Import | 5,155 million euros | 5,710 million euros |
Source: Statista
The two states are engaging in a race for influence in Africa. Russia, which has supported independence movements, is able to provide arms for African states. Whereas France is seen as an ex-colonizer, trying to preserve its position and influence in Africa, especially in West and North Africa.
Russian and French Presence in Africa
Russia’s presence in Africa, particularly in West and Central Africa, has military and economic objectives. Russia has a severe shortage of rare, important, and vital minerals for its various industries (such as manganese, bauxite, and chromium), and it has advanced energy expertise and technology profitable to African countries offered in exchange for raw materials and open markets for its products. Russia’s ties with West African countries, in terms of defense, are undoubtedly growing rapidly, especially since the Russian government erased 20 billion dollars of African debt in 2017. Between 2017-2018, Russia entered into cooperation agreements with more than one country in West Africa, including Mali, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea, and Burkina Faso. In Central and Eastern Africa, Nigeria, Central Africa Republic, Chad Republic, Democratic Congo, Mozambique, and Sudan. As for Southern Africa, Russia has relations with Madagascar, Tanzania, Angola, South Africa, and Kenya. In North Africa, Russia uses mercenaries and companies with intelligence and army backgrounds in Libya, for example. It also cooperates with Algeria, noting that Algerian weapons are mostly from Russia. In Egypt, Russia’s role began taking shape in 2013 after a new regime was set in place, this gave Russia an opportunity to present itself as an ally to Egypt to turn to for help.
France’s presence in Africa used to be marked by the ties it had with African states due to the colonial past, but now it is losing its influence for that very same reason. France had created a system of official and parallel relations between the former metropolis and its colonies based on economic and political networks of influence and pressure groups.
In Niger, the Chad Republic, and the Central African Republic, France’s economic interests were small and cultural ties were weak. However, the strategic position of these countries played an important role. Chad is the “gateway” from the north of Arab Africa to Black Africa. The Central African Republic is located at the very center of the continent, and its strategic importance seemed undeniable at the time.
Congo (Brazzaville), Dahomey (until 1975 – Benin), Democratic Congo (Zaire), Mali, Guinea, Upper Volta (since 1984 – Burkina Faso), and Mauritania, whose regimes gravitated around the USSR and Gaddafi Libya, had rather cold relations with France for many years. The rapprochement began only with President François Mitterrand.
The French military staff divided all of French-speaking Africa into two strategic zones – Central Africa (the West and Central African states) and the Pacific (Madagascar, Djibouti, and the islands of the Indian Ocean) with Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, as its headquarters. The Central African zone, in turn, was divided into three overseas zones with headquarters in Dakar, Abidjan, and Brazzaville.
Thus, several states have changed clans, they went from the French side to the Russian side, like Mali, the Central African Republic, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Russian and French Economic Relations with Africa
Russia’s trade in Africa is in favor of its side. Russia is exporting to Africa 12400 billion dollars and importing only 1600 billion dollars from the continent. But still, Russia’s market share does not exceed 2.4% of the global African Market share. As for France, they take 5% of the global share market.
Russian biggest trade partners in Africa in 2020 are mostly North African countries with Egypt at the head with 4534 million dollars. Followed by Algeria with 2966 million dollars, then Morocco with 1185 million dollars.
Grain purchases account for 30% of Russia’s African imports. The second most important group in the Russian-African trade is energy products. Coal, oil products, and gas account for 18.3% of African imports from this country. For its part, Africa sells mainly edible fruits and vegetables, aquatic products as well as organic chemicals and precious metals.
In the past twenty years, France has lost nearly half of its market share in Africa compared to its competitors, falling from 12% to 7%, in the field of agri-food. It must be said that the processing of agricultural products in African countries is lagging behind, with a volume of 29.4 billion dollars of goods exported to the African continent in 2019. In the same year, Black Africa exported more than 6.903 billion dollars, with fuels at the top of exported products, agricultural ones, transportation, and others. but the continent still remains in deficit, since it imports from France more than 11.43 billion euros. The products going from Africa to France are mainly Mach and Elec, chemicals, and agricultural products. France’s biggest African customers in terms of securities are in the northern region of the continent: 4.9 billion Euro in purchases for Algeria, 4.75 billion Euros for Morocco, 3.3 billion Euros for Tunisia, and 2.3 billion Euros for Egypt, with a notable exception for South Africa and its record bill of 5.2 billion. In sub-Saharan Africa, Ivory Coast (1.1 billion) and Senegal (1 billion) are also major buyers.
The relations are not only commercial between the African continent and France, but also monetary. France still maintains its influence on this zone since it is attached to the French national currency since 1945. For example, when Mali had very close relations with the USSR, suffocating pressure was put on the country by France until Mali gave in and came under the wing of the CFA Franc in 1984.
Economically speaking, Russia is very far from being a French competitor in Africa. However, what we can see is that France is losing its influence year after year because of its African foreign policy, which is a neo-colonial one. In the pursuit of national interests, France interferes in the internal affairs of other weaker states and often resorts to military action to achieve these goals, in addition to political or monetary pressure. Something that African countries have become more aware of and refuse to be under French influence any longer. One way is to diversify their partnerships and Russia seems like a good partner seeing as it does not have a colonial past in the continent and it supported independence movements.
The Military Sector as a Form of Influence
Russia is trying to find a way to gain more credibility in the continent by helping countries in key transnational issues such as counter-terrorism.
In 2020, Russia and African countries signed contracts for the delivery of arms worth more than $1.5 billion. Six African countries expressed their interest in the T-14 Armata tank for their armed forces.
Africa imports 16% of France’s weapons, amounting to 784 million dollars. Many countries who were dealing with France in the field of counter-terrorism have turned their back on it and concluded new agreements with Russia or other superpowers, like the Central African Republic and Mali.
The Russian intervention in the Central Africa Republic was a full package intervention, that included the military, humanitarian, diplomatic, and economic spheres. It started in 2017 after the visit of Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadéra to Sotschi who met the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. During the meeting, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra asked for support from the UN due to the military embargo against his state and he also signed an agreement for arms sales. Thsi came exactly after the Russian decision of canceling more than 20 billion dollars of African debt. The choice of the Russian Federation does not come by chance, since the Central African Republic and Russia have historical relations dating back to the period of the cold war when the Central African Republic was an ally of the USSR in Africa. The withdrawal of the French Sangaris operation in the Central Africa Republic was a result of its failure to maintain order from 2013 to 2016. The Central African population accuses France of neo-colonialism.
To re-establish peace in the Central African Republic, Russia supplied 900 Makarov pistols, in addition to 5,200 assault rifles and 840 Kalashnikov machine guns, plus 140 sniper rifles and 270 portable anti-tank grenade launchers, and 20 MANPADS, not to mention the ammunition for them. Moreover, 175 military instructors went to the African country to train more than 1,300 Central African soldiers. This intervention was crowned by the summit in Sudan, which brought together the Central African government and all the rebel groups under the partnership of the UN.
As for Mali, Russia seems to be an alternative to the French interventions that have failed. Since 2013, the French army was present in two different operations for counter-terrorism, Serval (2013-2014) and Barkhane (2014-2022), but with no results. The anger of the population against the previous government and the French presence was felt by the last Putsch in 2021, which put the actual president Assimi Goïta in power.
Abdoulaye Diop was received by his Russian counterpart Sergueï Lavrov in Moscow, where he stressed the cooperation and assistance of Russia/Soviet Union provided to Mali in difficult situations stating that,
[bs-quote quote=”We are in a difficult situation and we still turn to this friend so that he can help us to get out of it … up to 80% of the military equipment of our country is of Russian origin.” style=”default” align=”center” color=”” author_name=”Abdoulaye Diop” author_job=”Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs” author_avatar=”” author_link=””][/bs-quote]
A month before this meeting, Russian helicopters were sent to Mali. A reconnaissance and attack system with L39 and Sukhoi 25 fighters, the Super Tucano and other aircraft already in service, Mi24P attack helicopters, in addition to Mi35 and Mi24 that were already delivered in early August.
By the time France is losing influence in Africa, other countries are taking its place. After 2014, the Russian government decided to come back to Africa after a long hibernation caused by the fall of URSS to detour sanctions against its annexation of Crimea. In many countries where France is present, the population is protesting demanding the withdrawal of France’s influence from their territories, such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, South Africa, and the Central Africa Republic. Refusing to be under the French “neo-colonialism” and influence, some of them are calling for Russian help and others are calling for other powers’ intervention. Africa is indeed the heart of the planet, due to its abundance of natural and human resources that attract the super and medium powers to spread their influence and grow more. The question that remains is whether these powers that will help African countries build resilience, stabilize their borders, and grow, do so without compromising their sovereignty.