N° 27 septembre 2022 From July 25 to 28, E. Macron made an African tour of Cameroon, Benin and Guinea Bissau before receiving and having dinner with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman.
From July 23 to 27, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo. For his part, the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected for a next tour on the African continent, he will go to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
This marked interest in Africa confirms the stake that the continent represents for the imperialist powers in the context of the war waged by the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Indeed, African countries represent the largest block of votes at the UN and everyone will have noticed that even if many of them do not approve or even condemn Russian aggression against an internationally recognized sovereign state, they do not nevertheless remained cautious in engaging openly behind the protagonists of the conflict. Thus during the vote at the UN which "demand[a] that Russia immediately cease to use force against Ukraine", they were sixteen to abstain(1), Eritrea voting against the resolution, eight not taking part in the vote(2) including Cameroon and Guinea-Bissau.
Africa is rich in raw materials and natural resources, some of which are absolutely necessary for the development of modern technologies, while it represents, because of the youth of its population, an important reservoir of available labor force, as regards the reverses the aging population of developed countries. The maintenance of the social order essential to satisfy the competing capitalist demands leads to the support by the imperialist states of dictatorial regimes and therefore develops the needs in armament and in security policy whether they are assumed by regular armies or private military groups. responsible for protecting the economic interests of multinationals(3) .
During his interventions, Macron castigated Russia's advances in Africa, saying: "Russia has started a new type of hybrid world war. This is the reality. And it has decided that information, energy and food were military instruments in the service of a continental imperialist war against Ukraine. Russia is one of the last colonial imperial powers. It decides to invade a neighboring country to defend its interests. C "That's the reality. When you see them popping their heads in your house, don't see anything else." This description of Russian imperialist interventionism, but Macron is careful not to say it since France participates in these confrontations within the imperialist system, is just as applicable to imperialist interventions in general where only the interests of development of capitalism take precedence: those of profit making and capital accumulation. If Macron castigates Russia exclusively, it is because he sees in it new competition for a France whose influence on the African continent has declined significantly, when at the same time the economic weight of Russia, although on the rise, remains relatively low.
To give an idea of the economic stakes and their size, let us quote some data. The major investments in Africa are of Chinese origin with 254 billion dollars in 2021, when those of the USA have fallen from 2008 to 2021 from 142 to 64 billion and those of France amount to 54 billion dollars. From this point of view, those of Russia, which were 5 billion dollars in 2017, pale in comparison and mainly concern the energy sectors.
Of morality and human rights, there is obviously no question, and Macron was careful not to address these problems as much as regards the news where repression is in full swing in Cameroon (4) as in Benin (5) that for the colonial past of France and especially in Cameroon where it played a major role in crushing in blood the struggle for national liberation led by the Union of the Populations of Cameroon and allowing the accession to power of a regime at the heels of French imperialism.
It is in this same vein, that of the interests of the capitalist monopolies, that Macron received the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman at the Élysée Palace. The latter, once banned from chancelleries because of the torture and murder of a journalist in a Saudi Arabian embassy, has now become popular again, as the increase in Saudi oil production is deemed necessary to make lower prices. In this sense J. Biden had opened the ball without obtaining any tangible result(6), any more than E. Macron, as Saudi Arabia intends to maintain high prices within the framework of the OPEC + agreement which it co-leads with the Russia.
What can the peoples expect from these imperialist confrontations? They are the first enlisted victims that they are behind every power that intends to their detriment to defend the interests of their exploiters. The way to justice is that of the class struggle on a national and international scale to put an end to the predatory system of Man and nature that is capitalism!
(4) https://www.sitecommunistes.org/index.php/monde/afrique/1723-cameroun-la-repression-s-amplifie
(5) http://www.la-flamme.org/index.php /library-of-pcb/921-la-flamme-n-464-du-july-29-2022-visit-of-emmanuel-macron-in-benin-press-point-of-protest-of-organizations -patriotic-and-democratic-revolutionaries-of-benin
(6) https://www.sitecommunistes.org/index.php/monde/monde/1941-rubrique-internationale-algerie-1962-2022-j-biden-au -Near and Middle East