James Hamill, in his book ‘Africa’s Lost Leader: South Africa’s Continental Role Since Apartheid” debunks the perception of South Africa as the undisputed leader of Africa and paints South Africa as nothing more than a fragile hegemon. He supports this by arguing that South Africa has been reluctant to assume a hegemonic role, for a range of historical and contemporary reasons. South Africa has generated significant resentment, suspicion and even outright opposition from other African states. It has been unable to popularise its ideals in Africa or build a consensus around them.
Israel’s relations with African countries go back to the late 1950s when it began extending significant support to many African countries undergoing decolonisation. Since then the relations have experienced many fluctuations with a major shift seen in the past few years. There has been an accelerated improvement under the premiership of Benjamin Netanyahu, who proactively pursues an African region centric ‘Return to Africa policy’.
Tension between the US and Iran escalated after the assassination of Iranian military commander, General Qassim Soleimani by the Trump administration on January 3, 2020. Tehran launched a series of missile attacks on a military base that hosts American troops in Iraq. This is the first direct engagement between both the countries since the naval battle precipitating the Vincennes event on July 3, 1998.
Africa is a geopolitical arena where many big powers have been engaging either due to their own strategic interests or due to the changing dynamics of geopolitics. Russia is no exception. Russia’s interests in Africa are mainly due to heavy investments in raw resource megaprojects and as one of the major suppliers of arms. However, Russia needs to unveil an ambitious and new vision that could satisfy the requirement of African countries and subsequently could be leveraged for tangible rewards for Russia, and the year 2019 set the tone for such actions.
“India-Africa Partnership in a Changing World”
Mr. T.S. Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
I am privileged to be a part of the Africa Day round-table discussions on ‘India-Africa Partnership in a changing world’. It is an honour to be able to address such a distinguished gathering. I thank the Director General and IDSA for taking this initiative. I also welcome all Heads of Mission and representatives from African countries.
H.E Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam, Ambassador of Eritrea and Dean of African Heads of Missions
It is my pleasure to be here for this important Africa Day roundtable dialogue on India-Africa Partnership in a Changing World.
The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses has hosted the Africa Day Roundtable annually since the last three years in order to commemorate Africa Day, which was earlier referred to as African Freedom Day and African Liberation Day. The IDSA Africa Day Roundtable has evolved into a well-established platform to discuss India-Africa ties. It contributes to the giant strides that India has taken under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to re-define and transform its ties with the dynamic continent of Africa.
It has been a time of great change in the world in the last few years. There is also great change in Africa with greater democratisation, political stability, economic growth and regional integration. There is more movement towards trade and investment and a greater consciousness to use aid with responsibility and not overdo borrowings so that debt management can be well-ordered. A more business-like approach is visible in Africa and among its partners.