Most of the commentary on Africa's reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has taken a glass half empty approach. See, for example, the Council on Foreign Relations blog post titled "Russia's Invasion of Ukraine May Drive a Wedge Between the West and Africa" by Ebenezer Obadare. And there have been some truly disappointing responses by African countries that either abstained or sat out UN General Assembly votes on 2 March and 24 March that condemned Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Eritrea was the only country in Africa to embarrass itself and vote against both resolutions alongside Russia. But South Africa, Uganda, and Tanzania abstained on both of them. Ethiopia failed to vote on the first resolution and abstained on the second. Morocco failed to vote on either resolution. Botswana and Somalia supported the first resolution but failed to vote on the second one. It would be interesting to know what role, if any, China played in influencing abstentions on these resolutions.
The fact remains that approximately half of the African countries supported both resolutions condemning Russia. This included heavy weights such as Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia. This must have been an especially difficult decision for a country like Egypt that gets much of its military equipment and wheat from Russia. While you can make the glass half empty case, I tend to see African votes on these resolutions as a glass half full.
