Here’s Why Some African Nations Are Supporting Russia Against Ukraine

In the past few weeks, leading figures in South Africa have been among the most vocal supporters of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has blamed NATO and Western nations for the current war while supporting Putin. Former President Jacob Zuma, a rival of Ramaphosa who also belongs to the ruling African National Congress party, has expressed his support for Putin as well, calling the Russian leader a “man of peace.”

The affection for Russia has its roots in the Cold War and Soviet support for the ANC and other anti-colonial parties in Africa as a way for the USSR to gain allies in its confrontation with the U.S. and its allies. While Western leaders like Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to condemn the racist Apartheid government, the ANC, including leaders like Nelson Mandela, found support from both the local South African Communist Party and the Soviet Union.

This support for the ANC and the anti-apartheid struggle has led to continued friendly relations with Russia. Julius Malema, the leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party, explained his party’s loyalty to Moscow in the current conflict. The EFF backs Russia, he said, because “Russia imposed sanctions in apartheid SA” while “America never imposed sanctions” against the apartheid regime (the U.S. actually did pass sanctions against South Africa in 1986, with Democrats and Republicans cooperating to overcome a veto by President Reagan).

South Africa is not the only African country sympathetic to Russia. CNN reports that 16 other African nations joined South Africa in abstaining from a UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while 28 nations supported the criticism of Russia. As Blavity previously reported, representatives of some nations, such as Kenya, have forcefully spoken against the invasion. Still, the mixed reactions from Africa reflect not only past Soviet involvement with the continent but also current relations between Russia and African nations. As CNN notes, Russia has become a major trading partner to several African countries. For more than a decade, South Africa and Russia have cooperated with Brazil, India and China as a group of “emerging economies” known by the acronym BRICS.

A large part of this trade has been selling weapons to African governments, which has become a big business for Russia. Additionally, a Russian mercenary firm known as the Wagner Group has been active in several African countries for several years. This group has been hired by several governments to fight against threats to their rule, and the Russian mercenaries are continuing to expand to new countries such as Mali. Fighters from the Wagner Group have now been redeployed from African nations to Ukraine to fight in the invasion, including a mission to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Ukrainian sources. Even though these mercenaries are being condemned in the West, many African leaders see Russian weapons and even Russian fighters as key to maintaining power and security and thus are hesitant to criticize Russia.

In addition to the direct military concerns of a number of African leaders, many of those who are supportive of President Putin side with the Russian leader as a role model for their own rule. In power since New Year’s Eve 1999, Putin has essentially become a dictator in Russia, undermining the democracy that had developed in Russia in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. The same process of democratization also influenced Africa in the 1990s, leading to the fall of many dictatorships and the rise of elected leaders. Since then, however, some African leaders have managed to undermine democracy and extend their power, and it is no surprise that many of these leaders are siding with Putin. For example, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for nearly 40 years, has expressed sympathy for Putin and prefers that China — another non-democratic power — take the lead in negotiating an end to the crisis in Ukraine. Museveni’s son and expected heir has been even more explicit in his support for Putin, tweeting that “The majority of mankind (that are non-white) support Russia’s stand in Ukraine.” Eritrea, a country that has never held an election and has had the same president since becoming independent in 1993, was the only African nation to vote against the UN resolution that condemned Russia’s invasion.

Among African nations, it is not only dictatorships that have supported Russia or criticized NATO for its perceived role in the crisis. Several countries have criticized the U.S. and its NATO allies for being hypocritical in condemning Russia’s invasion after having engaged in their own wars against weaker nations. Many have pointed toward the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq that led to an unjust war and thus argued that the U.S. has no moral high ground for condemning Russia now. For many African nations, a more important example was the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya, which led to the overthrow and eventual execution of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi, who had been in power since 1969, was a strong proponent of African unity. He invested billions of dollars across the continent and often cited his dream of building a United States of Africa that could rival the U.S. and other Western powers.

Gaddafi was also a longtime foe of the U.S. He regularly criticized American and Western interests. He supported groups like the Black Panthers in the U.S. and the Irish Republican Army in the UK. Gaddafi was also implicated in terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of Americans and Europeans. In retaliation, the U.S. bombed Libya in 1986, nearly killing Gaddafi in the process. Thus, even though the Obama administration said that NATO intervened in 2011 to prevent Gaddafi’s forces from attacking civilians during a civil conflict in Libya, many folks in Africa and elsewhere saw the strike as America taking care of unfinished business and taking out a major champion of Africa in the process. Now, with the U.S. and its allies united against Putin, many people in Africa are viewing this as yet another long-held grudge by the West against a rival, rather than a moral struggle against an unjust invasion.

As Blavity previously reported, amid all the horrors of the war in Ukraine, one ugly story to emerge was the racism inflicted on Black students and other people of color in the country as they attempted to flee the violence. For weeks, stories proliferated on social media of Black people being placed last or even refused transportation altogether and left to wait in the cold while white Ukrainians were being evacuated. Meanwhile, various white commentators and politicians have let their racial biases show, explicitly contrasting the plight of European Ukrainian refugees with those of Black and brown people fleeing similar warzones, as if war and violence were somehow more acceptable for non-white people.

Complaints about the blatant racism of the refugee crisis are valid and important. They have also given fuel for Russian propaganda, which is attempting to paint Ukraine as dangerous with exaggerated stories of Neo-Nazis and completely misleading innuendo about biological labs. For many people in Africa, seeing young people from the continent being mistreated and subjected to discrimination has soured their view of Ukrainians as innocent parties in the conflict, making other accusations against Ukraine more credible.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues and Western sanctions against Russia intensify, there will be increased pressure from both sides for all countries to choose a side in this conflict. For the leaders and populations of many African countries, which have a long history of being viewed as pawns in conflicts between Washington and Moscow, which side to choose — or whether it makes sense to choose at all — remains an open question.