Has the war in Ukraine changed Russia-Africa relations?

ELIZA Gomani, a 29-year-old mother of two from Mlongoti village in the Lilongwe district in central Malawi does not understand the reasons behind the rising costs of fertiliser and other food substances like cooking oil.

A subsistence farmer growing maize on a one acre piece of land, Eliza only knows that she has not been able to cultivate enough crop this season because fertilisers were in short supply at selling points.

"I only managed to buy one bag of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) fertiliser which was not enough for me to effectively grow my maize crop,” said Gomani.

Gomani, who we met at the handover ceremony of 20,000 tonnes of Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium (NPK) fertiliser to the government of Malawi by a Russian fertiliser manufacturer Uralchem-Ukalkali under its first humanitarian consignment from the European Union to Africa, is only hopeful that the fertiliser she will get will help her in the winter cropping as her maize is already past the fertiliser application point.

“The fertiliser has come very late, I am only hopeful that I will use this fertiliser in winter cropping, as a farmer I don't understand what the Russia-Ukraine crisis is all about, I am only concerned about my farming,” she tells Africa Briefing.

Malawi, one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which is identified as a hunger hotspot as food inflation remains high in the wake of shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“The fertiliser will help Malawi achieve its goals of substantially boosting its agricultural production and helping families grow more healthy and nutritious food,” said Dimitry Shornikov, representative of the Uralchem-Uralkali Group in Africa.

He said the delivery of the fertiliser shipment was done in close cooperation with the World Food Programme (WFP), which chartered a vessel to transport the fertiliser from the Netherlands to Mozambique, from where it was brought to Malawi by land.

Nikolay Krasilnikov, Russian Ambassador to Zimbabwe and Malawi said the fertiliser donation is part of a Russian major fertiliser donation operation taking place in Africa as a contribution to addressing the global food crisis and supporting efforts to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal number 2 of ending hunger and achieving food security and improved nutrition.

“Russia wants to ensure food security in Malawi this is part of the announcement made by president Putin to assist poorest countries in the world. This is part of Russia's initiative to support the poorest countries of the world with agricultural commodities,” said Krasilnikov.

Krasilnikov said the donation, which comes amid the rising cost of fertiliser and other food items following disruption of global supply chains and rising interest rates due to the war in Ukraine, would confidently help Malawian farmers harvest enough food and would boost relations between Russia and Malawi.

Krasilnikov revealed that Russia would be donating 260,000 tons of fertiliser to African countries and was hopeful that African leaders will press for the abolition of international sanctions against Russia when they attend the second Russia-Africa summit to be held end of July.

The war in Ukraine has changed the Russian and Western attention towards Africa. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Africa has witnessed a shift in Russian and Western policy and attention on the continent with the two opposing sides of the morality of the over a year long war trying to reinforce or establish relations with African countries.

Like during the partition of Africa era, Russian and Western diplomats have been crisscrossing the continent, the West trying to re-establish links with countries they ruled during the colonial era, while Russia, a country that had not much influence in the continent has been trying to make new allies through humanitarian assistance and promises of technical assistance to the continent.

Putin also recently announced that Russia would be cancelling over $20 billion debt for African countries in a bid to strengthen relations between Russia and African countries.

As Russia is trying to build African allies, the western front has also been rushing to its African allies most of which were colonised by the western countries. In a bid to renew this relationship, French president Emmanuel Macron, who was recently on a four-nation tour of African countries which were previously under French rule, said the era of French interference in Africa was “well over”.

The sentiments were coming as antiFrench sentiments were high in some of its former African colonies which have turned into diplomatic battle ground with the growing Chinese and Russian influence.

Macron, who was quoted by Reuters as describing Russia's Wagner Group as a group of criminal mercenaries, the life insurance of failing regimes and putschists, accused Russia of feeding anti-French propaganda in Africa to serve "predatory" ambitions.

Meanwhile the Norwegian government has added $8 million to its aid package for Malawi to help cushion the country against the negative effects of the Russia-Ukraine war and Cyclone Freddy.

Norway's Deputy Minister of International Cooperation Bjorg Sandkjaer, who was recently in Malawi, said $6 million of the package will support the agriculture sector while $2 million will be channelled towards the disaster which has claimed more than 500 lives. The additional allocation translates into a 60 percent increase to the $10 million injected into the agriculture sector in 2023.

Sandkjaer said the support was part of a broader support package to alleviate the challenges suffered by vulnerable populations who are harshly impacted by the global consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine.

“This extraordinary support is meant to cushion some of these negative effects to support Malawi in lifting more people out of poverty, food insecurity and distress,” said Sandkjaer.

As the war in Ukraine continues and the West and Russia continue to make allies in Africa, and people like Eliza Gomani continue to be confused about the dynamics of the situation, it is not clear who the winner of this race over relations with Africa is.