'Best Thing Russia Could Do Is What It's Doing Now:' Expert Talks Free Grain Supplies to Africa

Russia has started to deliver its 25,000 tons of grain free of charge to six African countries that are facing severe food insecurity due to conflicts, climate change, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The first shipment of grain arrived in Somalia last week and the others are to reach Burkina Faso and Mali soon.

The other countries that will benefit from the Russian aid are Zimbabwe, Eritrea, and the Central African Republic. President Putin said that the initiative was a response to the growing threats to the global food supply caused by Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative – an agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Russia quit the deal in July, accusing the West of failing to meet its commitments and of prioritizing "well-fed European markets" over the needs of the poorest countries.

Some experts and African leaders have welcomed the Russian aid as a gesture of solidarity and a means of alleviating the humanitarian crisis in the continent. Lere Amusan, Professor of International Relations at North-West University in South Africa, told Sputnik Africa that Russia's free grain initiative is "the things that Africa needs".

Professor Amusan said that Africa was battling with food insecurity not because of a lack of arable land, but because of the institutional crisis and the negative effects of globalization and climate change. He also said that Russia’s intervention could help prevent political instability and violence in the affected countries.

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Amusan praised Russia’s approach to cooperation as different from that of the Western countries, which he said were exploitative and conditional. He said that the Western countries would not supply grain free of charge, and that they would impose their own agenda and interests on Africa.

"The best thing that Russia could do is exactly what the country is doing now. Now you can hardly find any Western world [country] that is going to supply grain free of charge. They wouldn't do that. Even if they need to do it, there should be some conditions," the professor told Sputnik Africa.

He said that Russia, in its turn, is re-engineering the international system and challenging the dominance of the West.

"We shouldn't forget that African countries were majorly colonized by the Western world. And the Western world's idea of developments in Africa is totally different from what Russia is trying to portray as a global system," he said.

In addition to the grain delivery, Russia is also intensifying its relations with Burkina Faso and other Sahel Alliance members. A defense agreement, for example, has just been signed with Niger and exchanges on energy and the supply of fertilizers and petroleum products to Mali are also underway.

Amusan said that these developments were positive for Africa, as they would enhance its security and development.

"It is better to teach me how to fish rather than giving me fish! So if you teach Africa how to fish, definitely there won't be any problem with food insecurity," Professor Amusan admitted. "But in the short run, I think, those countries really need Russia's help in order to checkmate likely political instability."

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The South African expert described Russia as "a very close friend of the majority of African countries from the time of decolonization" and outlined some prospects of further Russian-African cooperation and its consequences.

"We are the laughing stock at the international system. They've been demoralized, Africa, to the extent that when they get to the negotiating table, they will never utter any word that is going to be anti-Western world," Amusan assumed. "The movement away from the Western ideas of development and political system towards Russia is going to bear a positive fruit on one condition that Russia is not going to follow the same system that the Western world is trying to introduce in order to recolonize the continent."

He added that "with BRICS, South-South cooperation and development of the developing areas, I believe Russia is going to have a proper seat at the international level." The international relations scholar also said that Western countries, including France and the United States, would not be pleased with the revival of relations between Africa and Russia.

He cited France's expulsion from several West and Central African countries in recent months as a sign of the emergence of a "new world order".

"The Western world, America inclusive, will not like a situation whereby their exploitation of mineral resources, human resources and so many other resources from Africa, they will not like a situation whereby it's going to have a stop," Amusan told Sputnik Africa.

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Commenting on Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal, Professor Amusan said that Moscow's decision was the "best that could be done" given the circumstances that led the Kremlin to exit the agreement.

According to the UN, most of the Ukrainian grain exported under the Black Sea grain deal, brokered by the United Nations to prevent a global food crisis, went to developed European countries (Africa received less than 3% of the grain).

Amusan suspected that the deal was designed to financially support the Kiev regime against Russia.

"From a diplomatic perspective, isn't it a tactical means of trying to rearm Ukraine to attack Russia? If the answer is no, isn't it an attempt to support the Ukrainian government? Especially through the income from the grain that the country is supposed to export in order to prosecute that war against Russia," he argued.

Talking about the grain shipments initiative Russia launched after the termination of the deal, the expert highlighted some important possible consequences.

"So if Russia can continue to do that, definitely, the issue of food security will be resolved. The issue of political instability will be resolved. Everybody will have a field day to develop their own family and by extension, to develop the continent in general," he concluded.