"Trade in military guarantees": how the US intends to oppose Russia and China in Africa

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper accused Beijing and Moscow of spreading influence on the African continent.

He said this, speaking in Tunisia, during his tour of North Africa.

“Today, our strategic competitors - China and Russia - continue to intimidate and put pressure on their neighbors, while simultaneously spreading their authoritarian influence throughout the world, including this continent,” he said.

According to the Pentagon, Russia allegedly wants to create military bases in Libya, and Russian President Vladimir Putin "sent Russian units" to this Arab country.

At the same time, the department did not provide any evidence.

According to Esper, "the key to solving these problems is to maintain a partnership" between the United States and countries with US views, "including those located here in northern Africa."

As a reminder, back in January, Vladimir Putin, commenting on reports about the alleged presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya, said that "if there are Russian citizens there, they do not represent the interests of the Russian state and do not receive money from the Russian state."

The President of the Russian Federation announced this at a press conference.

The Russian leader also noted that there are many different mercenaries in this conflict zone.

The Pentagon called the visit of the US Secretary of Defense to Malta and northern Africa "a reminder to all African countries of the interests of the United States on this continent."

“Esper’s visit is one of more than 500 trips by Defense Department officials to the African continent over the past year,” Pentagon officials said.

"All these trips are steps towards greater stability and, ultimately, peace."

• Pentagon chief Mark Esper

• © Lisa Ferdinando / DOD

During his tour, the head of the Pentagon signed ten-year action plans with the Tunisian and Moroccan authorities.

"These agreements are aimed at finding more effective ways of interaction between countries to fill the missing (military. -

) capabilities and increase compatibility with the US Armed Forces," - said in a statement from the United States defense department.

It is also emphasized that "the African command of the US Armed Forces will play an important role in this."

It is noted that Washington is using American troops in the African Lion exercises held annually in Morocco.

Countries from all over the region are taking part in the maneuvers, the US Department of Defense said.

The position of the American military

Let us remind you that this is not the first time that the Pentagon has announced about Russian and Chinese "threats", reporting on the next actions of the American military in Africa.

In February, US Department of Defense spokeswoman Alyssa Farah announced that an order had been given to deploy units of the 1st Security Assistance Brigade to the African continent to increase "the effectiveness of competition with China and Russia" in the region.

“Security Assistance Teams are staffed, trained and equipped based on the mission's training, counseling and assistance tasks.

Thanks to this, they can more efficiently and more efficiently than conventional troops participate in an important confrontation between the great powers, ”she said in a statement posted on the Pentagon's website.

In the same month, Major General Roger Cloutier, Commander of the US Army in Africa, announced during a press briefing that for Washington, competition with Moscow and Beijing in Africa "is of the utmost importance."

According to the military leader, Russia and China are "active" throughout the continent, including in the military sphere.

“In some areas, there is a constant and systematic activity of Russia, in others - an increase in activity,” - said the major general.

In March, the head of the US African Command (AFRICOM), General Stephen Townsend, announced the US intentions to strengthen its positions on the African continent to counter the allegedly growing influence of the Russian Federation and the PRC in the region.

According to him, these countries compete with the American side in Africa by using "economic, diplomatic and military means" to spread their influence.

As Townsend noted, the African continent is important to Washington because it hosts geostrategic regions and sea routes that are of particular value to the international trade and operations of the United States around the world.

The military leader also stressed that the key to the security and well-being of the United States in the future is "maintaining strategic access and influence in Africa in the event of a crisis."

"Find Weaknesses"

As HSE professor Dmitry Evstafiev noted in a conversation with RT, the US military leadership "keeps reminding about the Russian and Chinese threats, since this is the way it is at the Pentagon."

“This is a kind of formula that can be applied to any foreign policy situation in the modern world, including in Africa,” the expert noted.

Boris Mezhuev, a political scientist and associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, believes that, in stating the "threat" allegedly from the Russian Federation, Esper means, in particular, the situation in Libya, which "the Americans see in their own way."

“For some reason the United States decided that Russia has some kind of harmful contacts with the alternative authorities in Tripoli, in particular with General Haftar.

And this contrived story scares Washington very much, ”the analyst explained in a comment to RT.

At the same time, the American side “is still more concerned about the growing economic presence of China in Africa, to which Washington has not paid attention for a long time,” says Sergei Sudakov, a corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences.  

“Africa was considered a secondary region by the United States, and all their attention was focused on the countries of the Middle East.

However, the geopolitical and geoeconomic vectors in the world are changing, and Washington realized that they need to somehow rebuild, "the expert said in an interview with RT.

The United States is pursuing a very specific goal - they need African countries "to gradually move under the American umbrella in the framework of countering the Russian Federation and China," Sudakov believes.

In his opinion, Esper is once again covering up the expansion of his military activity in the region with a "contrived Russian threat."

“These are not random trips, now it is the US race for impressive funds.

Esper and others at the Pentagon, realizing that Africa is not only an investment in sand, but also real money, assets, opportunities to use Africa's resources, trade sovereignty and military guarantees, sell them to other countries in exchange for loyalty and access to the continent's wealth ", - said the analyst.

• US military exercise "African lion"

• © US Army Africa / Maj.

  Cain claxton

At the same time, the promises "to increase stability and establish peace" in Africa by increasing military activity there, which are heard in the US Department of Defense, "cannot be trusted," Yevstafiev believes.

“The United States does nothing just for the sake of stability, peace and prosperity for some people in Africa.

They take concrete steps and spend money exclusively in their own national interests.

The United States needs to maintain access to resources, military infrastructure, to ensure a situation in which neither China nor Russia will be in the region, ”the expert said.

Sudakov also admitted that the activation of the United States in the African direction may be associated with the upcoming presidential elections.

“November 3 is just around the corner.

Trump must be helped to show the findings that the Pentagon is making under the current government, ”the analyst said.

In his opinion, "Africa is quite suitable to raise the foreign policy importance of the head of the White House."

However, according to Sudakov, the United States "will not be able to take Africa with a simple swoop."

“The maximum that Americans can do on the continent is to find the weaknesses of competitors, to identify their agents of influence and somehow, through decision-makers in African countries, try to influence the situation in the region,” the expert concluded.