Cold war echoes as African leaders resist criticising Putin’s war

Twelve hours after its forces attacked Ukraine last month, Russian government officials and senior soldiers in South Africa gathered at a comfortable residence in the city of Pretoria for a cocktail reception to celebrate Russian Motherland Defenders’ Day.

Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/AP

The host was the Russian ambassador, Ilya Rogachev, and his guests included the South African minister of defence as well as the head of the country’s armed forces. Neither saw any reason to shun the gathering as many other nations’ officials did, nor to apologise afterwards.

Attendance was “integral to the fulfilment of defence international affairs”, a government spokesperson said.

Provided by The Guardian Vladimir Putin with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019. The ruling ANC party in South Africa has refused to criticise Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Sergei Chirikov/AP

Support from many African leaders and governments for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine – or at least reluctance to condemn it – has dismayed western officials.

At the UN general assembly resolution 17 African nations abstained – almost half all abstentions – and one voted against condemning Russia for its ‘aggression’ and demanding a withdrawal from Ukraine, though a majority of African countries gave it their backing. The resolution passed by 141 to 5.

Some observers have raised the possibility of a new strategic split across Africa, similar to that during the cold war.

“It harks back to cold war days and the divisions we saw then. But … the objective reality of the international system is so different now this raises a lot of questions about some African countries’ commitment to the post-cold war order and its values,” said Priyal Singh, researcher at Institute for Strategic Studies in Pretoria.

Since then, the ambassador’s party – the ruling African National Congress party in South Africa – has doubled down on its refusal to criticise Russia, saying it hopes to remain neutral and encourage dialogue.

Others on the continent have followed a similar line, calling for peace but blaming Nato’s eastward expansion for the war, complaining of western “double standards” and resisting all calls to criticise Russia.?

That the new divide looks like the one which split Africa decades ago is no coincidence. Many countries across the continent are still ruled by parties that were supported by Moscow during their struggles for liberation from colonial or white supremacist rule, analysts say. Though few among their youthful populations experienced the bitter battles of the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, leaders of ruling parties in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique remember how Soviet weapons, cash and advisers helped win freedom.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, the president of Zimbabwe, has described both Russia and China as “dependable pillars for many years” which “assisted us in our fight for independence, but equally … to defend our sovereignty against the sustained onslaught by our detractors,” a reference to western sanctions on Zimbabwe, imposed after human rights abuses under the regime of Robert Mugabe.

Provided by The Guardian Vladimir Putin and Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Russia-Africa summit in 2019. Photograph: Sergei Chirikov/AP

Mozambique also abstained at the UN, arguing like others that it hoped to encourage dialogue to resolve the violence. So too did Algeria, once seen as a “revolutionary” state close to Moscow. 

Reference: Jason Burke in Johannesburg