Diplomatically Isolated Belarus Seeks Allies in Africa

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko chairs a meeting with military officials in Minsk, Belarus. Nikolay Petrov/BelTA via Reuters

YAOUNDE, Cameroon—A new bilateral intercourse is growing between the diplomatically isolated Eastern European nation of Belarus and countries in Africa.

This is epitomized by the Belarusian president’s recent visit to the continent.

President Alexander Lukashenko visited Equatorial Guinea and Kenya from Dec. 9 to Dec. 11, in a tour described by Minsk as aiming to “intensify interaction” in all areas of mutual benefit and to establish “close ties” between Belarus and African countries.

Kenyan President William Ruto and President Lukashenko on December 11 agreed to broaden ties in renewable energy, trade, investment, and education.

President Ruto expressed his country’s readiness to tap Belarus’s technology in agriculture, adding that the “immense opportunities” binding Kenya and Belarus must be exploited for the prosperity of the two countries.

It was the second time that the two leaders were meeting in under two weeks. Mr. Ruto and Mr. Lukashenko had met in Dubai on  December 1, on the sidelines of the World Climate Summit. Before leaving Kenya, President Lukashenko invited Mr. Ruto to visit his country anytime the Kenyan leader deemed fit.

Western countries have sanctioned Belarus and isolated Lukashenko for his firm backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and a crackdown on domestic dissent.

Rules the ‘The Lungs of Europe’

Mr. Lukashenko has been in power for almost 30 years, earning him the nickname: “Europe’s last dictator.“

Sometimes referred to as ’The lungs of Europe‘—because of its primeval forests and wetlands, which cover nearly half the country—Belarus still relies heavily on Russia for political and financial support.

Macharia Munene, professor of history and international relations at the Kenya-based United States International University—Africa (USIU-A), told The Epoch Times that President Lukashenko’s just-ended Africa tour simply cements a process that elevates Belarus outside Eastern Europe.

“Belarus is on a contact expansion mission in Africa and the Middle East. Kenya happens to be one of the African countries in its geopolitical radar,” Mr. Munene told The Epoch Times in a chat.

“The only strings attached are those of making both presidents look good as players on the international stage. Africa should take Belarus seriously as a country promoting its own interests and, while taking the views of others into account, should not be overly worried about what the conceptual West says,” he said.

President Lukashenko started his tour in the tiny, oil-rich central African nation of Equatorial Guinea on Dec. 9 and Dec. 10, where he signed a roadmap cooperation with the country’s leader, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

The roadmap, designed for implementation from 2024-2026, covers 15 key areas of interaction, including cooperative projects, supplies of Belarusian machinery and its maintenance, agriculture, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and sales of medical equipment, as well as forestry.

“We will start digging the ground and tackling problems in Equatorial Guinea tomorrow,” President Lukashenko said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin in Moscow, on March 11, 2022. Mikhail Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

Belarus has the technological expertise that Equatorial Guinea can explore to rise to a higher level, he added.

“Certainly, we didn’t come into your country to offer charity. But we are not going to profiteer at the expense of your people, your country either,” Lukashenko said.

He insisted that Belarusians “are no colonizers” but rather, “friends.”

“As we share technologies in many areas where you need them, we will train your people how to use these technologies,” he said.

In response, 81-year-old Mr. Mbasogo, who has ruled Equatorial Guinea with an iron fist for 44 years, said his country is fighting for economic independence today despite having gained political independence from Spain 55 years ago.

‘Africans Are Waking Up’

“There are countries that don’t want Africa to develop. Countries that bring instability, that invent all kinds of changes in order to exploit our resources,“ Mr. Mbasogo said. ”But Africans are waking up.

“We already see that we have been deceived. We are disappointed. And where we had hope, we will be unable to get anything from our former colonizers,” he said.

Deals were also signed on launching the first phase of a regional center to promote Belarusian products in central and west African markets.

On the second day of his official visit, Mr. Lukashenko traveled from the capital city of Malabo to the mainland of Equatorial Guinea. President Mbasogo also invited his guest to see the planned capital of Equatorial Guinea, Ciudad de la Paz, a Spanish phrase for “the City of Peace.”

The two leaders traveled around the future capital in one car during which Mr. Mbasogo showed the Belarusian leader the African-American University of Central Africa, La Paz Oyala Hospital, and the Government House.

“You are truly a small country, but with enormous capacities,” Mr. Lukashenko said. “Some of the sites I have seen here are stunningly beautiful. I think it would be challenging for us to build such sites.”

Mr. Lukashenko visited Zimbabwe early this year on his first-ever trip to a sub-Saharan African nation.

Reacting to the Belarusian leader’s latest Africa trip, Tibor Nagy, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, described Belarus as a Russian “satellite” and Lukashenko as “one of Putin’s stooges.”

“Belarus does have an embassy in Nairobi—but nothing in Equatorial Guinea,” Tibor told The Epoch Times in an email.

“Since it exports fertilizer and imports petroleum, there might be logic in deals with Kenya and Equatorial Guinea—but I’m sure it gets discounted petroleum from Russia for ‘good behavior,’” he said.

Regis Hounkpe, a Beninese geopolitical scientist and the director of Interglobe Conseils, a company specializing in global politics, says the trade and diplomacy during President Lukashenko’s trip to Kenya and Equatorial Guinea will allow Belarus to anchor itself on a continent already grappling with strategic rivalries among Western powers, Russia and China.

“The visit [shows] that Africa is not only an accelerator of economic growth and a provider of commercial opportunities for its external partners, [but that] the continent is [also] a launching pad for any international credibility,” Mr. Hounkpe told The Epoch Times in a chat.

Workers from China and Burkina Faso employed by Sinohydro, a Chinese-owned hydropower engineering and construction company, return after a working day in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, on Jan. 31, 2012. ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP/Getty Images

He said Africa’s geopolitical influence—bolstered by its 54 countries—only allows countries such as Russia or Belarus to demonstrate that “they are not completely pariah nations. Belarus obviously appears as a supplementary country [teleguided by the] Kremlin, so this is no trivial [visit] for the West.

“Through Belarus, the United States, France, and the European Union, for example, will [feel uncomfortable] to know that Minsk is seeking to assert itself in Africa, especially in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war and the ensuing diplomatic isolation for both Moscow and Belarus,” he said.

But Mr. Munene of the Kenya-based United States International University, Africa, thinks that the West has “no reason” to be worried about the visit threatening its purported interests. “It, however, [should] feel threatened by the fact of others being independent to decide what their interests are,” Mr. Munene told The Epoch Times.

“The more serious concern for Africa is one of Africa’s interest in dealing with Belarus, the West, Russia, or China. It is about Africa’s interests, not those of extra-continental powers,” he said.

‘Already Got a Bad Record’

Thomas Cromwell, president of Washington-based East West Communications and an expert on nation branding who has worked with several African countries, says it is intriguing to understand why any African country will be interested in building close relationships with Mr. Lukashenko, who, he says, “has been isolated because of his relationship with Putin and has already got a bad record with the rest of Europe and also the world.”

“I think from Equatorial Guinea’s point of view, they have to consider what the real benefits [of the visit] will be,” Mr. Cromwell told The Epoch Times in a chat.

“To me, it is mystifying why Equatorial Guinea will get closer to Belarus rather than Western European [nations] or developed Asia or the United States, which has probably much better and more developed technology, chemicals, technology, etc.—all the things [needed] to develop agriculture, food processing industries, etc. That is simply inexplicable,” he said.

Despite nursing the ambition to be a regional hub for business in sub-Saharan Africa, seen in its construction of excellent infrastructure including airports, ports, roads, and other things essential for doing business, Equatorial Guinea is not considered a “very business-friendly environment,” Mr. Cromwell said.

“It could be that Equatorial Guinea has very specific objectives: Belarus is known for its agriculture equipment, its tractors, and other heavy equipment of that nature. But again, I don’t think anybody will choose Belarusian products or its latest technology,” he said.

Mr. Cromwell surmises that the benefit of the Belarusian leader’s visit may only be short-term, to boost Equatorial Guinea’s agricultural production.

“All the other things related to [the visit], I doubt if Belarus can offer,” Mr Cromwell said.

The Belarusian leader’s Africa tour is the latest in a series of many others in recent months, including those by top officials from Romania, Germany, France, the United States, China, and Russia.

Mr. Hounkpe believes it is high time that African countries sovereignly choose their external and diplomatic partners based on their “specific agendas and interests” rather than on the whims and caprices of other countries and powers.

“We are talking about industrial, agricultural, or health cooperation between Minsk and Malabo, for example, which will no doubt be beneficial for Equatorial Guinea,” he told The Epoch Times.

Mr. Munene identifies a new scramble for African resources, mostly through proxies, with the powers trying to “make their rivals look bad.”

“Their competitive interest in Africa, however, should be a source of concern for security in Africa,” Mr. Munene told The Epoch Times.

Worse still, he laments, is the control by institutions based in extra-continental centers that are more powerful than individual African states.

“It is ‘post-modern colonialism,’ more sophisticated than ‘neo-colonialism’,” according to Mr. Munene.