"Moscow will continue its interaction with the G5 Sahel (Mali,
Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Mauritania) on arms supplies to fight
terrorism. Naturally, there will be contacts with the G5 Sahel,"
Bogdanov noted that the group was undergoing "some internal structural
changes" currently because problems had arisen over Mali's
participation.
"We have bilateral communication
with all the countries of the five. We will see what format will be
optimal for our partners. Interaction here is largely focused on the
fight against terrorism and extremism, because this Sahara-Sahel zone
has become a hotbed of international terrorism and, of course, because
of the collapse of Libya's statehood and the spread of these processes
to the south," he said.
Over the past several
years, Russian Foreign Ministry has strengthened the military-technical
cooperation a key part of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation
with Africa. It has oftentimes explained in statements released on its
website that Russia's military-technical cooperation with African
countries is primarily directed at settling regional conflicts and
preventing the spread of terrorist threats, and fighting the growing
terrorism in the continent.
It is broadening its
geography of military diplomacy covering poor African countries and
especially fragile States that need Russia's military assistance. It has
signed bilateral military-technical cooperation agreements with more
than 20 African countries, according to several reports.
Malian
military authorities have shown uttermost disrespect for the Economic
Community of West African States and the African Union. On 15 May, 2022,
reported indicated that Mali decided to withdraw from the G5-Sahel
group and its Joint Force. The Joint Force was was created in 2017 by
the G5 Heads of State – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger –
to counter terrorism terrorism in the region. The Joint Force
operations has primarily shown due to challenging political and
security dynamics in the Sahel.
Martha Ama Akyaa
Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of
Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, has
acknowledged a few difficulties on the part of the international
community, donors and partners to reach a consensus on the most
effective support mechanism for a collective security response in the
Sahel.
"It is perhaps time to rethink our
approaches and change the way we do our work," she added. "We need
innovative approaches in the face of the constantly evolving tactics of
terrorist groups, whose influence keeps expanding." She, however, called
for a holistic approach that honours the primacy of politics, addresses
the causes of poverty and exclusion, and provides opportunities for
young people in the region.
Some policy experts
have said that African society is suffering through a weak institutions
and terrorism challenges due to alienation from political governance and
lack of having equal opportunity in community affairs. For instance,
countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Central African
Republic and many others have loose holds of the government and have
deliberately created the political environment for terrorist
organizations to flourish in Africa.
The basic
polity of many African countries is not up to the mark. There are state
institutions, departments and agencies like law enforcement bodies,
regulatory agencies and judiciary suffering from the chronic
dysfunctional mechanism which needs immediate focus to address
challenges of terrorism and terror funding. Therefore, fighting
terrorism should be analyzed and raising the functioning levels of
institutions as well as the development of the society.
Chairperson
of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat has reiterated the
necessity of creating regional forces for fighting terrorist groups,
but added that the African armies are still under-equipped. "It is
important that external partners listen to the cries of Africa and
operate within the framework of the organization when it comes to the
extension support in dealing with this scourge," he stressed.
Somalia's
President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also spoke about how the terrorist
group, al-Shabaab, controlled large portions of Somalia's rural areas.
"Shabaab, or terrorists anywhere they are, cannot be defeated militarily
only," he said.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi
was very outspoken, shared valuable experiences about the use of
well-constituted regional military force for enforcing peace and
security in Mozambique. Creating regional military forces to fight
threats of terrorism will absolutely not require bartering the entire
gold or diamond mines for the purchase of military equipment from
external countries.
Now, Mozambique has relative
peace and stability after the 16-member Southern African Development
Community (SADC) had finally approved the deployment of joint military
force with the primary responsibility of ensuring peace and stability,
and for restoring normalcy in the Cabo Delgado province, northern
Mozambique.
It involves troops from Rwanda and the
Southern African Development Community Military Mission (SAMIM). Rwanda
offered 1,000 in July 2021. South Africa has the largest contingent of
around 1,500 troops. External countries are, of course, enormously
helping to stabilize the situation in Mozambique.
The
Joint Forces of the Southern African Development Community are keeping
peace in northern Mozambique. The rules, standards and policies,
provision of the assistance as well as the legal instruments and
practices are based on the protocols of building security stipulated by
the African Union. It, therefore, falls within the framework of peace
and security requirements of the African Union.
Ahead
of the next Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg, July 2023, the South
African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) has published a
special report on Russia-Africa. The report titled – Russia's Private Military Diplomacy in Africa: High Risk, Low Reward, Limited Impact –
says that Russia's renewed interest in Africa is driven by its quest
for global power status. Few expect Russia's security engagement to
bring peace and development to countries with which it has security
partnerships.
While Moscow's opportunistic use of
private military diplomacy has allowed it to gain a strategic foothold
in partner countries successfully, the lack of transparency in
interactions, the limited scope of impact and the high financial and
diplomatic costs exposes the limitations of the partnership in
addressing the peace and development challenges of African host
countries, the report says.
The report authored by
Ovigwe Eguegu, a Beijing-based Nigerian Researcher on Politics and
International Affairs, focused on the use of private military companies
to carry out 'military diplomacy' in African states, and the main
research questions were: What impact is Russia's private military
diplomacy in Africa having on host countries' peace and development? Why
has Russia chosen military diplomacy as the preferred means to gain a
foothold on the continent?
His report was based on
more than 80 media publications dealing with Russia's
military-technical cooperation in Africa. He interrogates whether
fragile African states advance their security, diplomatic and economic
interests through a relationship with Russia.
Overcoming
the multidimensional problems facing Libya, Sudan, Somali, Mali, and
the Central African Republic will require comprehensive peace and
development strategies that include conflict resolution and
peacebuilding, state-building, security sector reform, and profound
political reforms to improve governance and the rule of law – not to
mention sound economic planning critical for attracting foreign direct
investment needed to spur economic growth.
The
United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) and the entire international community have
expressed collective concerns about any use of private mercenary
forces, instead strongly suggested the use of well-constituted regional
forces approved by regional blocs, as a means of addressing conflicts in
Africa. The G5 Sahel are Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and
Niger.
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