When rogues fall apart, they spill the beans: Indeed, the Emperors have fallen apart in the Russian/Ukraine conflict. And we can now count on them to spill the beans about their treachery on the Continent of Africa.
Unlike in Christian Anderson’s allegory; “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, at least, attentive Africanfolks need not a child to prove that they are not “inept or stupid” to realise that they are actually looking at naked emperors. As in the well-known African proverb; “Everyone knows what is under a woman’s wraparound lappa clothing, but the child that points to it is considered rude by the elders”.
The foregoing allegory and African proverb should help to remove the blindfold from the sight of the present-day generation of African leaders that the emperors are indeed naked all this time.
Someone once said that the greatest potential beneficiary of the Ukraine/Russia war is Africa. Because of the new scramble for Africa between West and East Europe, it’s now dawning on many attentive Africans that, although not anyone wishes for a conflict, the Continent should be well-placed to take advantage of the opportunities laden within the war instead of gearing up to become proxy-warriors all over again. The Chinese are busy doing fine business anyway with both warring factions.
Whereas the USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republic), now Russia, maybe guilty in some way or the other of imperialism over other East European nations before the perestroika political movement and Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost policy reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), West European nations had agreed on a General Act to regulate European colonisation and trade in Africa in 1884-1885 after the abolition of slavery.
Upon the USSR and the US’s show of valour in their individual efforts on different fronts in the protection of Europe against its own – Adolf Hitler of Germany, in 1945 World War II (WWII), the spoils of war was East Germany and West Germany partitioned between the two main actors of WWII that came to the rescue of the global Europe – East and West Europe respectively.
The US and West Europe had assessed the powerful war machines the USSR unveiled and deployed in WWII against Hitler. Also, both East and West Europe were wary of the growing rearming of West Germany. After much disagreements over the reunification of Germany and under which bloc the reunified Germany was to be categorised politically, a balance of power must be created:
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) military alliance was formed in 1949, that the USSR would counter with the Warsaw Pact (WP) military and economic treaty in 1955 when the US, Britain and France vehemently rejected the USSR’s request to join NATO.
The world order was now fully in place; the clear dichotomy between East and West Europe called the Western bloc and the Eastern bloc at the height of the Cold War was established.
But Gorbachev’s glasnost policy of openness would give way to popular uprisings in empire states of the USSR that would bring the Warsaw Pact on its knees in 1991. Nonetheless, there is much information now on the open domain that Gorbachev had a deal with the West that NATO would cease expansion of its membership in former USSR empire states in exchange for his [Gorbachev] open policy and the reunification of Germany into the western bloc.
Many will agree that, unless the present Africa leadership is inattentive all over again, the reemergence of military coup d’etats on the Continent is not of their making – Rather, it’s the return of that cold and cruel Cold War era West Europe/America foreign policies that sponsored military coup d’etats and/or assassinations of pro-socialist Africa leaders that is being reutilised, this time round, by East Europe/Asia against pro-capitalist African leaders in this renewed global economic, military and political sphere of influence.
Therefore, African leaders need to pay great attention to not be in a hurry to be embroiled in proxy-wars that will bring upon their people the greatest sufferings amidst the ensuing economic, political and food crises, but to instead keep an eye on the opportunities that may be laden within.
The war in Ukraine is iconic of Anderson’s little child that sees and talks about the nakedness of the emperor, bringing to the attention of the townsfolk that the weavers of the magnificent clothes for the emperor are swindlers and have weaved no clothes for the emperor, and that the townsfolk are not “inept or stupid” – that it’s the emperor that is, indeed, walking naked in the township.
Anderson’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes” can be likened to Chinua Achebe’s allegory of the “Madman”, in which the madman skillfully exposes the nakedness of a powerful chief who has been a menace to him [madman] all the while. East and West Europe have indeed exposed their nakedness in respect of dealings with their partitioned nations on the Continent.
In March 2023, about one year into the Russia/Ukraine war, I tweeted that: Weaponry support to Ukraine and Russia is not helpful to global peace. Military powers could be stretched thin at China/Taiwan, N.Korea/S.Korea, Arab/Israel battlefronts. The battle for territorial integrity must be resolved at the roundtable not on the battlefield. Also, those who are readily dressed in battle gear must be reminded of the words of Andrew Robert, Waterloo, June 18, 1815: The Battle for Modern Europe that, “Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained”.
Indeed, there has been an increasing threat of warfare between China and Taiwan; the Arabs are fast uniting against Israel; there is a growing anti-western sentiment on the Continent of Africa and most recently, China’s defence minister has promised to attack Japan if the latter continues to let the US use its planes to spy on the former.
The US and West European nations have come to the realisation that they must cease all dependency on Russia for any raw material and wartime consumable, worried that the ensuing situation may lead to a Third World War (WWIII). And many of the desperately needed raw materials and wartime consumables occur in abundance on the Continent. And it’s why both warring factions have focused on Africa.
Invariably, the access to insatiable appetites for raw materials in Africa is gaining increasing momentum. Again, Russia must fight back: to win the war, It must thwart Western nations’ influence in Africa for the purpose of strangulating their fall back on source to these badly needed raw materials and wartime consumables. And Russia’s response to West Europe’s attention to their former colonies for more answers is a no brainer and is in a few words; ‘Russia must awaken that Cold War tool the West utilised to subdue its (Russian] influence in Africa during the Cold War in its favour this time.
What is profound in all of this, is the growing realisation that the Continent will not need aid from the West or the East blocs anymore, Africa will only need fair trading partners. Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin’s book; “The World Was Going Our Way, the KGB and the Battle for the Third World” revealed that many KGB defectors’ treachery led to the unsuccessful Russia dominance of the economic and political pitch on the Continent.
Nikita Khrushchev would express frustration that the former British and French colonies failed to live up to his expectation. Apart from Kwame Nkrumah, the only members of the first generation of African leaders to arouse the serious interest of the KGB were the francophone Maxist leaders of Guinea and Mali, Ahmed Shekou Toure and Modibo Keita.
Andrew and Mitrokhin also wrote that the USSR was so impressed with Guinea, it [USSR] sent, besides the massive collections of military hardwares to that country, hundreds of snow ploughs in a country where it never snowed. Today, we now know why the Indians are benefiting from the scrap metal trade and shipping back to Africa iron rods for higher prices.
Now that the Europeans have locked horns in a battle, and their option for raw material to power their economies and war machines is in Africa, and they are busy revealing that their relationship with Africa all this while was about resources not democracy, it’s about time for Africans to know not to take part in the conflict.
But with the USSR’s diminishing interest in Africa, the centre’s hope was dashed. For attentive Africans and African leaders, now is the time for reflection into the past, and in the present that will help to forge better ways forward. It’s now glaringly clear through naked eyes that, indeed, the emperors are naked: Theirs was never about democracy; for capitalism, communism and socialism are economic systems that can be democratic or undemocratic. Capitalism, an economic system, cannot be substituted for democracy, which is a good governance system.
Instead, Africans should look for the opportunities in the problem and utilise them to forever wean themselves of imperialism, neo-colonialism, economic slavery and economic dependence on foreign actors
The author, Karamoh Kabba is a political analyst and social commentator. He is also the author of several books including Fire from Timbuktu. Morgue, Lion Mountain and more, and many short stories, social commentaries and journalists published in renowned news outlets. He lives in Sierra Leone.