Blinken targets Russia in major African policy speech
- ranchifarida
- Aug 9, 2022
- 1 min read
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called out Russia for exploiting instability in Africa and committing abuses with impunity, and blamed Moscow for worsening food security on the continent over its war in Ukraine.
The secretary’s remarks were part of a wide-ranging speech on the Biden administration’s strategy towards sub-Saharan Africa, delivered at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, amid rising competition between Washington and Moscow for influence on the continent.
Still, Blinken emphasized that the U.S. “will not dictate Africa’s choices, neither should anyone else,” but added that Washington is looking to African nations “to defend the rules of the international system that they’ve done so much to shape.”
“These include the right of every country to have its independence, its sovereignty, its territorial integrity, respected. A principle at stake now in Ukraine,” Blinken said. “We believe that all nations should be able to stand up for the right of a country not to have its borders redrawn by force. For if we allow that principle to be violated anywhere, we weaken it everywhere.”
Blinken’s arrival in South Africa was part of a three-country tour that will also comprise the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
Many African nations have resisted taking a firm stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At least 17 African nations, including South Africa, abstained in votes during the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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