Monday, November 18, 2019

Russia, Africa, Arms, and Debt

Eurasia Review posted on 18 November 2019 a commentary titled "Russia, Africa and the Debts" by Kester Kenn Klomegah, independent researcher on Russia and Africa.

At the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi in late October, President Valdimir Putin reiterated a commitment made early this century that Russia had cancelled more than $20 billion in African debt accrued during the Cold War. Most of this debt resulted from loans for the purchase of arms.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, between 2014 and 2018 Russia accounted for 49 percent of arms transfered to North Africa and 28 percent to Sub-Saharan Africa. Russia was the largest single source of arms for both regions. Russia's state arms exporter announced at the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi that Russia plans to transfer $4 billion worth of weapons to African countries in 2019, according to an article in the 24 October 2019 The Moscow Times. This raises the question whether African countries are accruing new debt or Russia is insisting on other terms before it transfers arms. There is some evidence that arms are being bartered for mining rights as reported by Eric Schmitt in an article tilted "Russia's Military Mission Creep Advances to a New Front: Africa" in The New York Times on 31 March 2019.