Where does West Africa stand if Russia invades
As Russian troops amassed in tens of thousands near Ukraine’s border, sending concerns across the globe, we look at where Nigerians and West Africa stand if Russia invades.
The western leaders believed Russia’s mission at their neighbour’s border was to invade the country, sending fears to investors in Ukraine.
The estimated number of West Africans in Ukraine is unknown, but it’s a popular destination for West African students.
In 2014, during which Russian forces occupied Crimea in Ukraine, the acting minister of foreign affairs, Prof Viola Onwuliri, made it known that there are about seven thousand Nigerians in Ukraine, just one country out of the 16 countries in the region.
Nigeria is a “non-aligned nation” and would not support any party in the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, Prof Viola Onwuliri emphasized.
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What is happening in West Africa?
From the 14th century, the European mainly consisted of Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, and Germany integrated Africa into the European-dominated global economic system and had a massive influence on the military affairs of the people of Africa.
West Africa is home to human resources; during world war 1, at least 200,000 West Africans were recruited to fight.
Although, Calculating the number of Africans that participated during world war one is imprecise, as some were recruited and served under local civil authority, which is known with unreliable statistics.
Most of the soldiers from west Africa didn’t know what they were fighting for, which shows how influenced West Africa was.
But the West’s influence in West Africa has deteriorated rapidly over the last decade. China’s and Russia’s influence in West Africa increased in the past decade, with most of their infrastructure being done by Chinese companies.
Russia has also been helping in West Africa’s fight against insurgency, for example, during the height of Nigeria’s war against terrorists, it was notably Russian and Chinese weapons that were widely used by the Nigerian military after the West refused to sell weapons to the battle ridden country where thousands of people were being killed by insurgencies.
This has no doubt diluted the European and the United States of America’s influence in West Africa.
West Africa has the majority of coups in Africa between 2019 – 2022. The coups notably occurred in the former French colonies west African countries.
Foreign influence is known to make coups more likely to occur.
Out of the 16 countries in West Africa, 7 of them, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, were French colonial territories.
Is West Africa Becoming Russia’s Allies
Russia’s security influence in West Africa can also be seen in Mali, which has been in armed conflict with several insurgent groups for over a decade.
Mali’s military turned to the Russian Paramilitary network, Wagner Group, after France surprisingly reduced its presence in the region.
The Mali Airforce also received 4 Russia’s Mi-171 helicopters, Weapons, and ammunition in October 2021, to boost their fight against insurgents.
Also, another West African country, Burkina Faso, has had three coups in the last decade.
Immediately after their third coup, the official Russian representative in the Central African Republic, (CAR) Alexander Ivanov, offered training to the Burkina military, which fueled speculations about Russia’s involvement in the coup.
Russia’s provision of weapons and equipment in west Africa created a long-term legacy of Russia’s operational culture in the region which could amount to reputation advantage in the event of war.
On the other side, Ukraine opened its door to university opportunities, extending educational benefits to west Africans. The majority of West Africans in Ukraine are students.
Where does West Africa stand if Russia invades
However, it is noticeable that even though the whole world is concerned about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, West African leaders haven’t expressed their concerns and have no plan on evacuating their citizens in the event of war.
West Africa has close ties with Ukraine and Russia, and it doesn’t look like any of the countries in the region are taking sides.
Amid increasing concern of Russia invading Ukraine, Nigerian in diaspora commission boss, Mrs Dabiri-Erewa, reassured Nigerians in Ukraine to remain calm and be security conscious amidst the strained relationship between Ukraine and Russia.
