Category: Great Moments

A Heritage of great moments in the history of the continent and the black race

President Biden’s First Visit to Africa : The Lobito Atlantic Railway Project

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Angola President João Lourenço welcomes U.S. President Joe Biden on the day of his arrival on Dec 4, 2024, at Catumbela Airport in Catumbela, Angola 

What could a president who has just pardoned his son from crimes during thanksgiving weekend when everybody was asleep, be doing in a lightning visit to Africa in the ending times of his term? It sounds fishy right? As we have learnt in the past, the transition times are the shady times of an administration. So what was President Biden doing in Angola at this time? Why wait until the end of his term for his first visit to Africa? Why was he not then at the re-opening ceremony of the Notre Dame Cathedral in France with all world leaders at the end of the week? We are told that this lightning first visit to Africa is to cement a deal that will benefit Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Zambia: the deal called the Lobito Atlantic Railway project.

A map of the Lobito Atlantic Railway project (Source: LobitoCorridor.org)

The Lobito Corridor is connected by a stretch of railway infrastructure snaking through mineral (70% of the world’s cobalt is found in the DRC) and oil-rich parts of Angola, the DRC, and Zambia (70% of the world’s copper). Many of these minerals are considered critical for the energy transition adding an additional layer of urgency (The New Scramble for Africa, The Geological Scandal that is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), DRC and Zambia Sign Over Cobalt and Copper Resources Rights to the United States?, When Einstein Wrote to the US President about Congo for its Uranium ). The Lobito project provides a faster access route to the mines in these parts of the world and a pathway to the Atlantic Ocean. The rail route was established in the early 1900s and thrived until the mid-1970s. During the dark days of Angola, in the civil war era, the Angolan parts of the railway were destroyed. From 2006 to 2015, the Lobito project was resurrected/rehabilitated by the Chinese government in the region, who spent over $2 billion rail-for-oil program, but JLo as João Lourenço, the president of Angola is known, has decided to change hands from the Chinese to the Americans and Europeans. In 2022, the Lobito Atlantic Railway concession, a 30-year concession (extendable an additional 20 years), was awarded to a consortium of Western companies.

Lobito Atlantic Railway (Source: Angola24horas.com)

This investment represents the first alternative from Washington DC to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. As President Biden said in 2023 during JLo’s visit to Washington, “This [the Lobito railway project] first-of-its kind project is the biggest US rail investment in Africa ever,” … “A partnership between Angola and America is more important and more impactful than ever.” President Hichilema of Zambia said, “This corridor is of vital importance to opening up our countries, to opening up our regions, the continent, and truly the global economy,… This project is a huge opportunity for investment, for trade.”

Many see the Lobito Atlantic Railway project more as a West (US/Europe) vs. East (China) war interest on the African continent; while some imagine a money laundering scheme (after all Africa is known for its opacity in accounting) in the last days of an outgoing administration. You, dear reader, what do you think this is?

For more information, please read the Lobito Corridor, US News, CNN, and the White House press release.

Chad and Senegal Order French Military Bases Out of their Territories – is this the end?

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Flag of Chad

Christmas may be coming early this year! On November 29th, during the visit of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ndjamena, Chad, Jean-Noel Barrot thought he was back as the French colonialist and managed to even tell the Chadian president who to collaborate with, and give him lessons. By the time he was on his plane back to France, the Chadian government sent out a notice ordering the French army to leave the Chadian soil.

Map of Chad (Source: Lonely Planet)

After more than a century of presence, the French army has been, at last, kicked out of Chad. The dictator approved by France, Mahamat Idriss Deby, has just denounced the defense agreements that bind his country to France. This was done without even notifying the Elysée. If the idea had been in the back burners for several months already, given the recent trip of Deby to Russia, the first in over 40 years, nothing suggested such a brutal break, yet desired by the vast majority of Chadians.

On Monday, The Chadian president Mahamat Idriss Deby defended on state TV, his decision to break military ties with France, saying at a news conference Sunday that their defense pact no longer meets Chad’s security needs.The decision requires France to withdraw its troops from the central African nation and echoes growing anti-French sentiment with civil society groups who say it is long overdue. Deby said his decision to end cooperation agreements with the French military is part of a promise he made during his May 23 inauguration, ending three years of military transition.

Lake Chad

This rupture comes just a month after a Boko Haram attack killed 40 Chadian soldiers in a military garrison in Lake Chad shared by Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger, this without any help from the 1000+ French troops located in Chad. As can clearly be seen, the presence of French troops seems to be of no use to Chad. Just ask our Malian brothers and they will let tell you all about the uselessness of the Operation Serval, Operation Barkhane and the Task Force Takuba.

Flag of Senegal
Flag of Senegal

On the wake of the Thiaroye celebration (Thiaroye: A French Massacre in Senegal), the Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has called for the closure of all French military bases in the country, asserting in an interview with a French media, that their presence is “incompatible” with the nation’s sovereignty. Faye clarified that this decision decision does not sever ties with France. Unlike other West African nations that have expelled French forces in favor of Russian military support, Senegal aims to maintain its relationship with France. “Today, China is our largest trading partner in terms of investment and trade. Does China have a military presence in Senegal? No. Does that mean our relations are cut? No,” Faye remarked.

Now… let’s move to the end of the biggest elephant in the room, the currency that is the FCFA in our own terms. Moreover, let us not discriminate to only French military bases, but all foreign bases should move out of the continent. Lastly, African Governments should make Contracts, defense and economic treaties, Public to their Populations!

Africans win the Goncourt and Renaudot 2024 Literary Prizes

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Goncourt Prize

This month, African authors made great wins and firsts: they won the most important literary awards in French literature: the Goncourt prize, which was awarded to Kamel Daoud for his third novel titled «Houris», and the Renaudot prize awarded to Gaël Faye pour «Jacaranda». These two books focus on some of the dark periods in the histories of Algeria in one, and Rwanda in the 1990s.

Kamel Daoud and his book Houris (Source: entrevue.fr)

Algeria writer and journalist Kamel Daoud wrote the novel Houris about Algeria’s 1990 civil war. The novel has been banned in his home country of Algeria. In 1994, he entered journalism working for the French daily newspaper Quotidien d’Oran, where he wrote a popular column “Raïna Raïkoum” (Our Opinion, Your Opinion). In parallel, he started writing novels, publishing his first one in 2013, The Meursault, Investigation, a retelling of  Albert Camus‘ famous novel The Stranger, which tells the story from the standpoint of the previously nameless Arab victim killed by Meursault; this first novel won the 2015 Goncourt first novel prize, the 2014 Prix François-Mauriac and the 2014 Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie. The current book, Houris is a story which focuses on themes such as religion, freedom and identity; the Algerian government sees it as a political gesture amid the current heightened tensions between Algeria and France. A couple of days ago, a woman in Algeria, Saada Arbane accused Daoud of using her personal story without her consent in the award winning novel Houris; thus, she is suing him. Like the heroine of the book, she survived one of the massacres, and had her throat cut in an Islamic attack that wiped out her family. She uses a tube to talk, and was in 2015 one of the patient of Daoud’s wife, psychiatrist Aicha Dahdouh. She said that many details in the heroine’s life – “her speaking tube, her scars, her tattoos, her hairdresser” – came directly from her confidences to Ms. Dahdouh during sessions.  Are these accusations founded? What will happen to this year’s Goncourt novel?

Gael Faye and his book Jacaranda

The winner of the Renaudot prize this year is Gaël Faye for his second novel “Jacaranda” which centers around the dark years of Rwanda. Gaël Faye, is a Franco-Rwandan author, French by his father and Rwandan by his mother, who used to be a London financier, before quitting and returning to live in Rwanda to focus on music, and whose first novel Petit Pays (Small Country) set in Burundi won, among others, the Goncourt prize in 2016.  This time, his comeback novel Jacaranda is set in Rwanda, as a powerful narrative exploring the effects of the 1994 genocide and impacts on current and future generations and the need to the keep the memory. The story encompasses 4 generations, and tells the terrible story of this country which slowly emerges from darkness to light.

 

Members of the African Diaspora Granted Ghanaian Citizenship

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Map and Flag of Ghana
Map and Flag of Ghana

Last week, the government of Ghana made history by granting citizenship to 524 Afro-descendants, as part of the “Beyond the Return,” program aimed at reconnecting the diaspora with their ancestral roots. This is part of Ghana’s attempt to market itself as a mecca for African descendants in the diaspora to visit and return back to the continent. Over five centuries, millions of Africans were taken into slavery from the shores of the continent, many passing through the Elmina Castle (Reclaiming African History: Elmina Castle – West Africa’s Oldest Slave Fort) in Ghana. Granting citizenship in an African country to these Afro-descendants is a major step in embracing our brothers and sisters of the diaspora and recognizing and acknowledging that all of Mama Africa’s offspring are needed and welcome. During the citizenship ceremony, President Akufo-Addo of Ghana told all present, “Your presence here is already making a difference… “You are human bridges connecting us to both sides of the Atlantic.” …  “Your ancestors left these shores under tragic and inhumane circumstances. Today, we reclaim that connection by welcoming you as part of our Ghanaian family,” 

Quoting icons of Pan-Africanism, including Marcus Garvey and Peter Tosh, the President underscored the shared heritage that unites all people of African descent. “Africa is your home, and Ghana welcomes you with open arms. This is not just a ceremony—it is a powerful affirmation of our collective identity and destiny,” he concluded.

Check out the article from the Philadelphia Inquirer and also the webpage of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ghana.

A French Commission to investigate the Thiaroye Massacre ?

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Poster commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye Massacre (Source: Seneplus.com)

Five days from the celebration commemorating 80 years since the Thiaroye: A French Massacre in Senegal, French parliamentarians called on Tuesday 26 November for the establishment of a commission of inquiry to shed light on the bloody chapter in the French colonial history in Senegal that is the Thiaroye Massacre. If the commission receives the green light, then the work will start in March 2025, when they could then summon and hear historians, descendants of the victims of the massacre, and more. As a refresher, on the night of 30 November to 1 December 1944, African soldiers who had who had fought alongside French people to liberate France of the Nazi menace, were shot by Frenchmen, for asking for their pay in Thiaroye, thus the Thiaroye massacre !

Flag of Senegal
Flag of Senegal

Like our Cameroonian brothers and sisters would say, “A quelle heure ?” (at what time?) or rather why now? How convenient! Or this is for show for the new government of Senegal, to act as if the French have taken note to please the new Senegalese government? They always wait for everyone to be dead to ask for and open bogus commissions that will end nowhere… did you see our dear Senegalese Tirailleurs who begged for many years, and only until most of them had died did they get some recognition from the French, At Last: Senegalese Tirailleurs now allowed to receive their pension while living in Senegal. We do remember the British Government apologizes for Mau Mau atrocities or that commission created for the French genocide in Cameroon.

To learn more, check out RFI. Do you think this commission will amount to anything? Will it even be accepted in the French parliament?

Mali wins $160m in Gold Mining Dispute

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments2 Comments

Flag of Mali
Flag of Mali

An Australian mining company, Resolute Mining, has agreed to pay Mali’s government $160 millions to settle a tax dispute. The company was operating in Mali and had significant back taxes it was refusing to pay. As we have seen before, many of these multinationals operate in many African countries, particularly French-speaking ones, without paying any taxes to local governments. This is an ongoing issue in many countries, where the multinationals operate freely, and pay taxes in their home countries, thus giving almost nothing to local governments and as we saw in the case of Niger, paying almost nothing for the resources. The Malian government arrested the British boss of Resolute Mining, Terry Holohan, and his 2 collaborators for 10 days at the end of which Holohan agreed to pay $80 millions immediately, and the remainder over some time. The Western media are in uproar about this, stating that Malians have used blackmail, and unorthodox methods. Quick question: What happens in Western countries, when someone does not pay taxes? Just ask Lauryn Hill or Wesley Snipes or Robert T. Brockman, to name a few … they will tell you that they ended up in jail! So why should it be different in Africa? Why is it okay for these multinationals to operate in our countries with carte blanche? Should they not be held to the same standards?

Excerpts below are from the BBC.

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Map of Mali with its capital Bamako

An Australian mining company, Resolute Mining, says it will pay Mali’s military government $160m (£126m) to settle a tax dispute, after the company’s British boss and two other staff were unexpectedly detained 10 days ago.

Reports say Terry Holohan and his colleagues were arrested while travelling to the capital city, Bamako, … Resolute, which owns a gold mine in Mali, said on Sunday it would pay $80m immediately from existing cash reserves, and the rest in the coming months.

Mali is one of Africa’s top gold producers. …

Part of the conditions for their release were that they must sign the memorandum of understanding and complete the initial payment, …

… Since taking power in a coup in 2021, Mali’s junta has sought to reconfigure its political and trade relationships with international partners.

Last year, President Col Assimi Goïta signed into law a new mining code increasing the maximum stake for state and local investors from 20% to 35%.

Niger and Orano: Disagreement

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Flag of Niger

Orano has been suspended by the Niger government. However, Orano states that they have suspended the Niger government. What is the truth?

France is the biggest electricity seller in the world, and this because of Niger who contributes up to 15% (probably more – they don’t want to tell us). Niger is the third uranium provider of the European Union. At one point, France was paying Niger 0.80 Euro/kg of uranium, while paying Canada 200 Euro/kg for the exact same quality; and this has been going on for decades! Is this not pillaging a country?

Map of Niger

Orano, previously known as Areva, has been in Niger for over 70 years. Yet in 70 years, they have not built a single school, roads, or even hospital for the locals (Mali and Niger end Long-Standing Tax Treaties with France). These French companies have similar behaviors in all of their previous colonies, in Cameroon for example, Safacam has been there 130 years, but the road there is impracticable – they can grab everything, without even giving simple things like roads to the locals! Moreover, many do not pay taxes in the local countries, but back to their home countries. Such contempt! How are the locals supposed to develop themselves? And then if one adds the FCFA scheme (The 11 Components of the French Colonial Tax in Africa) and it is game over!

Well, good riddance to bad rubbish… goodbye to Orano. The French thought that by having the Benin-Niger border closed via ECOWAS sanctions, that Niger, a landlocked country, will suffocate. When Benin realized that their sanction was affecting their own economy via the Benin port, given that Niger’s exports were no longer going through Benin, they back-pedaled trying to bring Niger in. However, it has been proven via intelligence, that there are French military bases in Benin and so Niger has refused to reopen their border with Benin. They have reopened all other borders with neighboring countries but Benin. Recall that Benin also tried to stop Niger oil going through the Niger-Benin Oil pipeline (at 1950 km, it is the longest oil pipeline in Africa) on Benin territory, until the Chinese government gave Talon a small tap on the back questioning his poor judgement to stop crude oil, forcing Talon to reopen the tap for oil.

To learn more, please check out RFI, and VOA. Excerpts below are from the VOA.

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NIAMEY, NIGER — Niger’s military junta is disputing a decision by French nuclear fuel firm Orano to halt uranium production, according to a document from a state partner in the venture seen Friday by Agence France-Presse.

Orano announced last month that it was stopping production as of Thursday, owing to what it termed increasingly difficult operating conditions in the country and financial issues.

… The French lamented the withdrawal by the junta in June of a permit for one of the largest uranium deposits in the world, Imouraren, and the impossibility of exporting the raw material with Niger’s border with Benin closed for what Niamey says are security reasons.

“Despite its status as a co-shareholder, Sopamin was not consulted on this serious decision” to halt production, the company, which has operated for half a century in the country’s north, said in a document dated Thursday.

The Nigerien firm complained that the decision “lacks transparency” and “violates a number of principles and practices essential to governance and commitments between stakeholders.”

… The ruling [government], which took power last year in a July coup, says it will revamp rules regulating the mining of raw materials by foreign companies in what is the world’s seventh-largest uranium producer.

… In September, Niger’s Council of Ministers adopted a draft decree creating a state entity, “Timersoi National Uranium Company,” abbreviated to TNUC

What does Donald Trump’s Victory mean for Africa

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Official portrait of President Donald J. Trump, Friday, October 6, 2017. (Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead)

This past Tuesday, November 5 2024, Donald Trump made an amazing and spectacular comeback to the highest office of the American nation, winning both the electoral and popular votes by a landslide, with the Republican party taking both the House and the Senate. In essence, he was given a mandate by the people. His victory, unlike what mainstream media had promised, was a real red tsunami (MMs should be sued for blatantly lying and taking sides in elections). Overall, many Africans rejoice because as it is well-recorded, Trump is the only American president in recent years who has not started a war. In the warmongering climate in which the world currently is, with fears of a third world war, this position offers a great appeal to many Africans. Relationships between countries are not love affairs, but business deals, and Africans need to remember what they stand for and seek benefits for themselves. Congratulations to the new president of the United States, and best wishes. Africans need to take advantage of the upcoming 4 years of a new establishment to enable policies that will strengthen them economically, politically, and socially.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump’s victory will have great impacts on Africa. There are many areas that will be affected by this change; but we will focus on two key ones. 1) The economy: what will happen to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and is it any good? What will happen to the significant American deals in Africa such as the Lobito Railway construction meant to go through Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), contract which had been won initially by China? or other deals across the continent?; 2) Geopolitical dynamics: what will be Trump’s take on Africa this time around, particularly as it pertains to the slap taken in recent years by France in the Sahel or the closure of the American base in Niger and the countries of the AES federation, or the wars in Sudan and DRC, or Russia’s growth in Africa, or China’s deals on the continent? Will America continue its expansionist vision? Only time will tell.

Messages have come from all corners of Africa, congratulating Donald Trump for his victory. Excerpts below are from The Africa Report.

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Flag of Egypt
Flag of Egypt

… Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, … was quick to congratulate Trump… “Egypt and the US have always presented a model of cooperation and succeeded together in achieving the common interests of the two friendly countries, which we look forward to continuing in these critical circumstances that the world is going through,” said Sisi in a statement early Wednesday.

… The South African president [Cyril Ramaphosa] looks forward to “continuing the close and mutually beneficial partnership between our two nations across all domains of our cooperation.” In the global arena, said: “South Africa looks forward to our presidency of the G20 in 2025, where we will work closely with the US who will succeed us in the G20 presidency in 2026.”

Flag of South Africa

… Earlier, Clayson Monyela, South Africa’s head of public diplomacy, took to X to respond to a user’s assertion that Kamala Harris would be better for South Africa than Trump. “Historically relations between South Africa and the US thrive under a Republican White House,” he wrote, adding that during Trump’s first term, he appointed a woman born in South Africa as the US Ambassador to South Africa. “She was brilliant and helped to enhance the strong and mutually beneficial ties between our two nations.”

Flag and map of Nigeria
Flag and map of Nigeria

… Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in a statement expressed “heartfelt” congratulations to the US president-elect, seeking to strengthen the ties between the two countries “amid the complex challenges and opportunities of the contemporary world”. Tinubu said: “Together, we can foster economic cooperation, promote peace and address global challenges that affect our citizens.” …  “Given his experience as the 45th president of the US from 2017 to 2021, his return to the White House as the 47th president will usher in an era of earnest, beneficial and reciprocal economic and development partnerships between Africa and the US.”

Flag of Kenya

Kenya’s William Ruto has been slower to congratulate Trump than his impeached deputy Rigathi Gachagua, who congratulated the American leader for “one of the greatest political come-backs of our generation”. He wrote on X: “Your victory is clear proof that resilience and a never-say-die attitude will always TRUMP obstacles on the path to your destiny.” … President Ruto has since congratulated in a statement, celebrating the “longstanding partnership with the United States spanning over 60 years, grounded in our shared values of democracy, development and mutual respect”.

Flag of Ethiopia

… it was no surprise to see Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed among the first African leaders to congratulate Trump on his victory.

… Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa congratulated Trump, saying, “The world needs more leaders who speak for the people”.

The DRC’s Félix Tshisekedi, whose controversial first-term victory was waved through by the first Trump administration, congratulated Trump, “in the name of the Congolese people, for his great victory”, saying he was ready to work together.

King Charles Says “The Past cannot be Changed” — No Apology for Slavery

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Flag of Great Britain

In November 2023, while on his first visit to Kenya as a monarch, King Charles gave one of those empty speeches in which he acknowledged the past atrocities committed by Great Britain and its colonial legacy. He said there were ‘no excuses‘ for it, yet did not apologize! He told guests that “the wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret.” (No Apology from King Charles III in Kenya). This year, at the Commonwealth Summit which took place last week in in Samoa, the leaders of the Commonwealth somehow expected an apology from the King of Great Britain about slavery, the part that Great Britain played in the slave trade, and possible reparations. Has anything changed in a year? It would seem that these Commonwealth leaders had not paid attention to the King’s visit to Kenya, or maybe they thought it was going to be different? If King Charles III had not apologized for the atrocities committed by the British during the colonial era in Kenya, what made them think that he was going to apologize for slavery? or that they could now talk about reparations?

The back of a slave

This year, the King of the British made another empty speech at the Commonwealth Summit, telling everyone how the “most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate“, as if we did not know, for our ancestors were on the receiving end, their pains still resonate with us. He added, “None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts, to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure.” What does this even mean? What is Britain going to commit to, with all its heart? Learning its lessons? Which lessons? What lessons can one learn when one’s coffers have been filled to the brim from others’ pain? What lessons can one learn when because of the slave trade, one has become one of the richest empires in the world? Those lessons are definitely different from the ones the enslaved and the victims have learned. From this, it is clear that the British monarch is truly mocking us!

Below is an excerpt from the BBC telling us, why King Charles III cannot quite apologize for slavery!

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The “most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate“, King Charles III said this week to Commonwealth leaders in Samoa, as arguments about reparations and apologies over the slave trade rumbled once again.

That’s become an occupational hazard for the Royal Family, as it can’t shake off questions about the long shadow of historic links to slavery.

It’s even more pointed in a forum such as the Commonwealth summit, with leaders representing some of the countries most affected by the legacy of colonialism and slavery.

But even if the King had a personal belief that there should be a symbolic apology or a commitment to reparations, he wouldn’t have been able to deliver it [as if he could think otherwise, when his family and entire kingdom has benefited from it]. Monarchs speak on the advice of ministers – and on a question of such political sensitivity, his speeches will have to stay within the boundaries of government policy. In other words, he has to stick to the script.

… “None of us can change the past,” the King said diplomatically, neatly aligning with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s line that we “can’t change our history”.

… As head of state, the King is the symbolic focus of calls for such redress, whether that’s financial reparations or some other ways addressing of historic wrongs. That’s not going to go away.

That’s awkward but he’ll take that in his stride, as it’s a political decision that he can’t change and reparations for the past seem unlikely when current UK budgets are under intense stress. [their coffers were filled from your pain, now that you ask for something, their budgets are under stress].

But there’s also the more complicated question of how much the monarchy, as both a family and an institution, might have a closer responsibility.

For example, the Royal African Company, founded in the 17th Century under royal patronage, has been claimed as transporting more enslaved people from Africa across the Atlantic than any other company.

But history, like people, can be full of contradictions. When it came to Britain’s pioneering efforts to abolish slavery, in the early 19th Century, research by historian Prof Suzanne Schwarz found the Royal Family itself was divided. The nephew of George III, the Duke of Gloucester, was one of the most important campaigners to abolish slavery – a tireless opponent of the cruel trade and a supporter of the Royal Navy’s efforts to intercept slave ships. But before the royals feel the clouds lifting, George III’s son, the future William IV, was one of the most enthusiastic defenders of slavery.

…

BRICS 2024 – Key Takeaways for Africa

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BRICS 2024 Summit (Source: LatestNewsandUpdates.com)

Last week, Vladimir Putin of Russia hosted the 16th edition of the annual BRICS summit which took place from October 22-24 in the city of Kazan in Russia. This was the largest gathering of world leaders in Russia in decades. The aim of the alliance is to foster a more equitable and inclusive global order, challenging the economic and political monopoly of the West.

BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The group started in 2006, and Brazil, Russia, India and China convened for the first BRIC summit in 2009. South Africa joined a year later, in 2010.

BRICS (Source: RussiasPivotToAsia.com)

In 2023, BRICS extended invitations to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after these countries applied for membership. Saudi Arabia has yet to formally join, but the others have.

Presidents of many countries in the world were present at the meeting, and even the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in attendance. BRICS’ evolution from an economic concept to a geopolitical force has been remarkable. The expanded members now collectively represent 44.3 % of the world’s population, 29.5 % of the land mass, and 30.8 % of the global gross domestic product (GDP) (49.7 % of global GDP in purchasing power parity, or PPP, terms).

BRICS flags

We will highlight below the key takeaways of the BRICS summit for Africa. There were a lot of takeaways in general, but our focus will be on Africa. Our wish is that African representatives could, when attending these summits, join as ‘ONE’ and not several. At the recent China-Africa meeting which took place in September 4 – 6, 2024, some African countries asked for more debt, like Kenya, while others asked for balanced trade, technology transfer, investment in manufacturing to boost job creation, like South Africa. This will create imbalanced partnerships which will be a disadvantage for neighboring African countries and then affect Africa as a whole later (this will be a subject for another day).

Key Takeaways for Africa

  • As pointed out above, Egypt and Ethiopia joined as new BRICS members, while Nigeria and Algeria participated as partner countries.
  • De-dollarization: this is a global shift which has occurred mildly before, but more significantly since the start of the Ukraine conflict which saw Europe and the US impose sanctions on Russia in hope of asphyxiating Russia, but which instead forced Russia to deal in local currencies and other leaders such as China and India to do likewise. This shift is more important for African countries, particularly the ones which are still part of the FCFA (that slave currency) block.
  • Energy and Technology partnerships between Russia, China and African countries to enhance energy projects and digital infrastructure.
  • Economic collaboration with the New Development Bank (NDB) which aims to fund infrastructure projects across Africa, offering an alternative to the shark Western financial institutions.
  • Balanced diplomacy: for too long, Africans have had only one way of thinking with the Western world. Now with the BRICS, Africans hope for a more balanced relationships to benefit and ensure sustainable development for our nations.