Governments, opponents, pan-Africanist activists on social networks or simple demonstrators: at the time of the war in Ukraine, support for the Russian regime is increasingly visible in sub-Saharan Africa, a symbol of Moscow’s growing “soft power” on the continent.
“Putin wants his country back and he doesn’t have the blood of slavery and colonization on his hands. I prefer Putin, even though he’s not my messiah, to all western presidents and all damned African presidents, subject to the oligarchy of the West”, stormed at the beginning of March, the pan-Africanist activist Kemi Seba in a video.
Same tone with Julius Malema, leader of the South African radical left: “We are here to tell NATO and the Americans that we are not with them. We are with Russia and today we want to thank Russia .Teach them a lesson, we need a new world order and we’re tired of taking orders from the Americans.”
Like them, African activists and supporters of Putin or subscribers on social networks who number in the thousands, have multiplied in recent months the “anti-imperialist” interventions and favorable to the actions of Russian power.
“There is a proliferation of Youtube channels that relay destabilizing discourses. They create a gap between the West and African regimes and thus serve Russian interests,” said Mahama Tawat, a researcher at the University of Malmö in Sweden.
– Media offensives –
Russian influence in Africa is also reflected in the streets of Bamako, N’Djamena and Ouagadougou, where demonstrators hostile to the French military presence in the Sahel waved Russian flags.
It is also materialized by media offensives.
In Cameroon, the “pan-African” television Afrique Média regularly presents pro-Kremlin opinions in the conflict with Ukraine and regularly invites Kemi Seba. “War Ukraine Russia: how Putin’s leadership is panicking the West?”, “Plan to assassinate Vladimir Putin: how far can Westerners go?”, are for example among the topics discussed on the media’s Facebook page. .
This pro-Russian popular breeding ground, the extent of which is difficult to assess, is supported by the benevolence of certain African governments towards the Kremlin.
The analysis of the vote of the UN resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine, adopted by a large majority, on March 2 shows it: out of 35 abstaining countries, sixteen are in Africa, to which must be added Eritrea which voted against, and eight African States which did not take part in the vote.
“Overall”, with rare exceptions such as Senegal, “these are either authoritarian regimes that have abstained, or countries that have historical, often military, ties with Russia since the days of the Soviet bloc”, Mahama Tawat analysis.
Some governments have even openly turned to Moscow, as in the Central African Republic where the authorities called on Russia for help, during an offensive by armed groups at the end of 2020.
Hundreds of Russian paramilitaries, “mercenaries” of the Wagner group according to the UN, came to reinforce those already present in the country for two years.
More recently, Mali, which ordered the French forces to leave, received Russian military equipment including two combat helicopters, under “a sincere and very old partnership”, according to the army.
Bamako also hosts a large number of “Russian instructors”, still “mercenaries” of Wagner, according to France and its partners.
– Infox –
Anglophone Africa is no exception. In 2016, Tanzania and Russia signed a military cooperation agreement including the training of African soldiers in Russian academies.
In neighboring Uganda, the son of President Museveni, the powerful general Muhoozi Kainerugaba, recently declared his unambiguous support for Vladimir Putin.
“The majority of humanity (which is not white) supports Russia’s action in Ukraine. Putin is absolutely right!” This close adviser to his father tweeted at the end of February.
To establish its influence, Russia does not hesitate to deploy different discourses depending on the target audience.
“Xenophobic, anti-migrant and anti-Muslim narratives are produced for a European audience, while calls for decolonization and an end to Western imperialism are aimed at sub-Saharan Africa and the Muslim world”, stresses a report by the French Institute for International Relations (Ifri).
Fertile ground for false information: the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine coincided with a boom in “infox” sharing, taken up in chorus by many “pan-Africanist” pages on social networks.
The angles of attack were recurrent: to defend the legitimacy of the invasion of Ukraine and to show the military superiority of Russia.