Britannia Radio

From The Times

June 24, 2009

President Medvedev arrives in Egypt for tour to revive relations

President Medvedev after signing a co-operation pact with President Mubarak of Egypt

Tony Halpin in Moscow

Once it would have been Cold War rhetoric and “fraternal greetings” to Marxist guerrillas. Yesterday Russia returned to Africa in a scramble to restore its Soviet-era influence — only this time with profits and natural resources in mind.

President Medvedev arrived in Egypt at the start of a four-nation tour to a continent where communist ideology and Cold War alliances shaped its post-colonial landscape.

Now Russia is keen to revive relations in a region where it still has several old friends, and some, albeit faded, influence.

Vladimir Putin visited South Africa and Morocco as President in 2006 but Russia currently lags far behind China in winning access to the region’s resources. In the past few years China has invested huge sums to buy influence in Africa and gain access to the raw materials it needs.

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During the 1970s the Soviets spent billions of dollars backing Marxist guerrilla movements in places such as Ethiopia, Mozambique and Angola, where military aid included airlifting 20,000 Cuban troops to support rebel forces.

By the middle of that decade almost 35,000 Soviet political and economic “advisers” worked in Africa, many of them KGB officers.

Communist ideals helped to inform policy throughout the region, from Tanzania under Julius Nyerere in the east to the socialist ideals of the outlawed African National Congress in South Africa.

In a first step signalling Russia’s intent to compete in the scramble for African resources, President Medvedev signed a ten-year “strategic co-operation” pact with his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo yesterday.

Like much of its once-extensive influence in Africa, Moscow’s traditionally close relationship with Egypt went into decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The two leaders also pledged to co-ordinate “foreign policy positions” and to press for “a new multipolar world order”, a favourite Kremlin phrase for challenging the US dominance.

Mr Mubarak threw his support behind a Russian proposal for a Middle East peace conference in Moscow, which Mr Medvedev said would be held by the end of the year. Russia is in the Middle East quartet — with the European Union, the US and the United Nations — that is negotiating with Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel and the US have been lukewarm on the idea.

Mr Medvedev was due to speak at an Arab League session and to meet its Secretary-General, Amr Moussa, during his two-day stay.

Trade is also at the top of the agenda. Egypt is now one of the most popular tourist destinations for Russians, with two million visitors last year, and even though annual trade between them is worth a relatively modest $4.1 billion (£2.5 billion) it is now Russia’s largest trade partner in Africa.

Nuclear power forms a key element of Mr Medvedev’s four-day visit to Egypt, Nigeria, Namibia and Angola. He is accompanied by his Energy Minister and the head of Rosatom, the state nuclear power corporation, as well as a host of other business leaders.

Rosatom is pushing hard to win a $1.8 billion tender to build Egypt’s first nuclear power plant. It was also expected to sign an agreement to search for uranium deposits.

Today Mr Medvedev will go on to Nigeria, where Rosatom hopes to sign a nuclear co-operation agreement. The Russian energy group Gazprom already has contracts in Nigeria to develop gasfields and search for oil reserves.

Then he will finish the tour with visits to Namibia and Angola, two countries entwined historically with Russia through its sponsorship of one of the longest-running conflicts during the Cold War period: the South African Bush War.

It will be the first visit by a Russian leader to Namibia. Several Russian companies are already part of joint ventures to exploit Namibia’s uranium reserves. Moscow has also offered to sell its controversial technology for building floating ship-based nuclear reactors to help Namibia to overcome chronic electricity shortages.

Mr Medvedev completes his African tour later tomorrow in Angola, which currently holds the presidency of Opec. Angola has vast oil reserves while the Russian state diamond miner, Alrosa, is involved in two joint ventures in the country.