Abandoned by globalization until recently, Africa is currently whetting the appetite of emerging powers (China, Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and Turkey). They are winning a share of the market to the detriment of Western countries and through their strategies; they are contributing to the development of the global balance of power. The new work (1) written under the supervision of Sebastian Santander who is the head of the Center for International Relations Studies (CEFIR) of the University of Liege, provides an in-depth analysis of these changes.      

The relationships between emerging countries and Africa go back a long way. In the introduction to his work, Sebastian Santander, the head of the Center for International Relations Studies at ULg, notes that Russia, China, India and Brazil had established direct relations with several African countries during the process of decolonization. In the 1980s, Africa was relegated to second place by these countries for reasons of internal order. China was concentrated on reforms which were intended to transform it into a “socialist market economy”. Moscow sought a solution after the decline of the USSR, India and Brazil were confronted by serious economic problems.     

Several reasons explain the steady return of emerging countries to Africa at the start of the 2000s. Sebastian Santander cites three of the main ones: the demand for African natural resources (cobalt, copper, hydrocarbons, timber, diamonds, coal and Iron); the desire to become a player in new markets, the levels of growth demonstrated by certain African countries (like Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Rwanda) are all factors that attracted foreign investors; the quest to achieve bargaining points or alliances in terms of international negotiations; the necessity for emerging countries to increase their scope of influence, their visibility and their international recognition.   

China’s staggering growth

China is the emerging country that has most invested in Africa, to the point of becoming the biggest economic partner of the Sub-Saharan Africa, ahead of the United States and the countries of Europe. The Chinese have invested several million Euros in the exploitation of African natural resources. The work coordinated by Sebastian Santander estimates that bilateral commerce between China and Africa went from12.3 dollars in 2002 to 162 billion in 2011. Some 2,000 Chinese companies (public and private) have been established on the African continent.   

The increasing presence of China in Africa is giving rise to criticism on the Dark Continent. One of the criticisms is based on China’s practice of bringing large numbers of Chinese workers into Africa and offering atrocious working conditions to the local population. The flood of low-priced products made in China into the African market also angers local populations who see this as detrimental to regional production.    

Contracts signed at the highest levels are not always to the Africans’ advantage. “In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, there is growing criticism of the terms of contracts signed by Chinese companies in the mining sector”, notes Sebastian Santander. “In exchange for the construction of infrastructures (roads, hospitals, railways), the Chinese are obtaining exploitation rights for important mining resources. These infrastructures are useful for the population (and the transportation of mining products), but the profits made by Chinese companies are largely higher than those enjoyed by the Congolese people. This type of contract perpetuates a traditional North-South type relationship: resources are extracted for export, but almost nothing is produced in the country. Some African political decision-makers are also beginning to criticize China. The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a highly-placed Zambian dignitary have described China as a kind of neo-colonizer”.

(1)« L’Afrique, nouveau terrain de jeu des émergents » (Africa, new playing-field for emerging countries). Edited by Sebastian Santander. Editions Karthala. 2014. The work involves the collaboration of some fifteen researchers and professors from European, African and Latin-American universities.