EU and African leaders on Thursday launched a two-day summit aimed at rebooting ties through pledges of major investment in the face of competition from China and Russia. But critics say Africa should be able to deal with other blocs on an equal footing. RFI English's Jan van der Made talked to Edwin Ikhuoria, Africa Director of the One Campaign, an NGO that fights extreme poverty across the continent.
Jan van der Made: What are you hoping to see at this summit?
Edwin Ikhuoria: The first thing is that Europe is changing its attitude towards a partnership [with Africa] and that they're actually listening to Africa, particularly in terms of Africa's strategic long term interests, especially given the outcome of the pandemic.
Given the ongoing pandemic, Africa has clearly expressed [the sentiment] that it wants to have its own health sovereignty and doesn't want to be dependent on the rest of the world whenever there is a health pandemic or public health crisis. It wants to be able to produce its own medicines and take care of its own people.
It is very clear that Europe wants to maintain its influence. But we should not be in a place where Africa thinks "Europe, we've been on this forever"
PODCAST: Edwin Ikhuoria, Africa Director of the ONE Campaign
That long term interest is one of the biggest issues that African leaders have brought to this summit. We're hoping that the Europeans can come behind that; that they can not just outline what a partnership should look like in the future, but also tangibly demonstrate that it supports such a long term goal.
Jan van der Made: Is there any movement from the European side?
Edwin Ikhuoria: We've seen some very nice announcements in terms of numbers, in terms of figures and money put on the table. Of the €300 billion that have been earmarked for the Global Gateway, €150 billion is earmarked for Africa.
That is really tangible. The question is what that is going to be used for and how long it's going to take. Is there a clear, transparent plan to see that these investments really happen?
The other announcement about what they will do to support the vaccine delivery on the continent is also great. We really appreciate all these types of announcements.
But what we haven't seen yet is the strategic support for the long term interests, which includes things like requests for Europe to support an intellectual property waiver, the WTO, which would give us a legal basis and creates an enabling environment for producers among the factories of vaccines and medicines and therapeutics on the African continent.
[We want to] be able to launch and do all of those things without necessarily waiting for lawsuits.
But we haven't seen movement on that. So we are hoping that the EU can think about how this affects Africa's long term interest and [work out ways] to demonstrate that they want to be true partners in that sense.
Jan van der Made: Relations between China and the US, Europe or Asia are not going well. In Africa, the Chinese are building their Belt and Road project. They're slowing down now because of domestic economic problems, but still, it's very strong. The Europeans have come in with their Global Gateway initiative. To what extent do you think they did that because they want to push back Chinese influence? Is this a new scramble for Africa?
Edwin Ikhuoria: So before we come to the new "scramble for Africa," right now Africa of 20 years ago is not Africa today. What Africa has collectively realised is that we can have multiple partnerships. It's not just with one bloc.
Historically between Europe and Africa, because of the colonial history, there are ties. Then suddenly there is China [coming] in from the East.
It did not just come in, it came in with money, with a lot of concessional loans, and with focus on infrastructure. While Africa is benefiting from that level of interest, it also benefited China in terms of the extraction of raw materials and all of the things that it could get from Africa, which [the Chinese] always call a "win-win" situation.
Now, there's [also] an upcoming US Africa relationship with a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (Tifa) and increasing cooperation with Russia.
The question is this: Is Africa able to leverage these relationships that [will be] in the common interest? In the sense that it is not just about taking resources, it's also about geopolitical positioning. Whether in the UN, Africa negotiates as a bloc. So if Africa comes and shows up as a bloc behind another region, you're likely get more things in terms of strategic interests, even at the UN level.
So there are different reasons why people are interested. It is very clear that Europe wants to maintain its influence. But we should not be in a place where Africa thinks "Europe, we've been on this forever". You saw it in the draft text that came up for negotiations for this summit.
The word "alliance" was suggested, but Africa said, "no" we want to live it as "partnership," so that it doesn't look like we are tied to Europe. And these are the kind of nuances that begin to let you know that Africa is not willing to be tied to a particular bloc.
It wants to leverage all the partnerships that it could get, whether from the East or from the West, or from the US or from Europe. It's looking at how this benefits Africa's long term standing on all fronts, in all sectors.
I think that is what any partner who comes to the table should begin to ask.
Jan van der Made: What do African countries think about the concept of integration? Giving up a part of your sovereignty to have a stronger bloc?
Edwin Ikhuoria: It has not worked so far, but there are attempts to get to the place where we can have a common market. The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) is a case in point, and if that takes off, the expectation is that the economic gains from open borders could really help to foster the coming together of the citizens, rather than political integration.
So what we have seen generally, you know, is a lot of talk of political integration and common market and economic integration.
But in a place where certain parts of the continent are filled with opportunities and in other parts there is scarcity of opportunities, there's no way of distributing wealth and resources in a way that meets everybody's needs. There would always be conflict.
So why it hasn't worked so far is the issue of giving up sovereignty. We believe that as they gradually ease into a common market, they are likely to see the economic benefits of acting as a bloc and that will lead to open borders.
It still doesn't remove sovereignty. But at least it shows that we have a bigger market. If I take about 1.3 billion people as a market, compared with Nigeria with 200 million, Ghana with 40 million, Ethiopia with 80 million. Those individual markets are not really the best to explore the opportunities that that exist.
In terms of challenges, Europe is still the biggest example for the whole world to see right now. No matter how imperfect it is, it is the biggest example of what it's possible in terms of economic gains.
Jan van der Made: How do countries in the African Union see Brexit?
Edwin Ikhuoria: Brexit was a sovereign decision by the people of Britain, so there's nothing you can do about that. What you feel about it is not important right now because the people decided that they want[ed] to do that, and they were entitled to what they did.
But for the African Union, the aim is looking at how we move past our small, small boundaries. The UK is a big economy, it can decide to do whatever it wants. It is rich enough.
But the African Union [consists] of small, small markets. The different countries, they are too small to be viable.
Their need to come together far exceeds any fancy idea of remaining small. And I think that is what is driving our stand on regional integration, which has been going on for ever, since the Organization of African Unity started in the Sixties.
Until now it has been "how do we regionally integrate?" So Brexit does not harm that process at all. In fact, if there's anything at all, it gives them more reasons to say, "look, you know what? we have to make our union work better!"
