Gravitas Plus: The race for Africa
Africa has become the battlefield for global powers. China, India, US, EU, Israel are fighting it out in the continent. Who is winning? and What's it in for Africa. WION's Palki Sharma tells you all about the race for Africa.
00:00
today we'll talk about africa once seen
00:03
by europe
00:04
as the anti-thesis of civilization the
00:06
heart of darkness in the words of a
00:08
certain joseph conrad
00:10
centuries later africa remains ignored
00:13
it makes news for its conflicts poverty
00:16
and exoticism for the longest time the
00:19
world saw it as a lost cause
00:21
then one country saw opportunity and
00:24
thus began a new race for africa
00:26
not very different from the scramble of
00:28
the 19th century when colonial britain
00:30
and france wanted raw materials
00:32
slaves and geopolitical influence now in
00:35
the 21st century global powers
00:37
are in more or less the same race china
00:40
the united states india the european
00:42
union
00:43
japan israel canada all of these
00:45
countries are in the race for africa
00:47
and one country is emerging as the clear
00:49
winner
00:50
hello and welcome to gravitas plus i'm
00:51
palki sharma
00:53
and this is africa a continent
00:56
of 54 sovereign states 17 percent
01:00
of the world's population 9.6 percent of
01:03
the global
01:03
oil output 90 of the world's platinum
01:07
supply
01:08
90 percent of the world's cobalt supply
01:11
half of the world's gold supply
01:12
two-thirds of the world's manganese 35
01:16
percent of the world's uranium
01:17
75 percent of the world's colton and 54
01:21
votes in the united nations general
01:22
assembly
01:23
this is what makes africa so attractive
01:27
and makes the continent a battleground
01:29
for global powers
01:30
there are numerous fronts investment in
01:33
infrastructure military power diplomacy
01:35
soft power trade geopolitics every
01:38
country has its own interest in africa
01:40
in 2016 israel began its scramble for
01:43
the continent
01:44
benjamin netanyahu became the first
01:46
israeli prime minister to visit africa
01:48
in 50 years what did he want
01:52
votes in favor of israel and against
01:55
palestine
01:56
in the united nations resolutions africa
01:59
and israel share similar histories he
02:01
said
02:02
israel went on to sponsor solar water
02:04
and agricultural technologies
02:06
in the same year 2016 senegal
02:08
co-sponsored a u.n resolution it
02:10
condemned the construction of illegal
02:12
jewish settlements in the west bank
02:15
what did israel do it cancelled the
02:17
mushaf drip irrigation project and this
02:19
is just one example
02:20
here's another one the european union
02:22
has pledged more than 54 billion dollars
02:25
in sustainable investment
02:27
for africa what does the eu want
02:30
access to the african market of 1.3
02:32
billion people
02:34
brussels has negotiated free trade
02:36
agreements with at least 40 african
02:37
countries
02:38
but does this ensure a balanced two-way
02:41
trade it doesn't
02:42
and no country has a bigger interest in
02:44
africa than
02:46
china china is funding one in five
02:49
infrastructure projects in africa it is
02:51
building every
02:53
third one africa has an infrastructure
02:55
deficit
02:56
and china has a signed checkbook
02:58
starting 2005 china has invested at
03:00
least
03:01
two trillion dollars in africa it built
03:03
six thousand two hundred kilometers of
03:04
railways
03:06
including the continent's longest
03:08
railway line connecting ethopia and
03:09
djibouti
03:10
beijing has also built the african union
03:12
headquarters in addis ababa
03:14
what does china get in return a lot
03:16
geopolitical influence to start with
03:19
beijing is selling its culture its
03:20
currency in guinea bissau
03:23
exit signs are written in mandarin china
03:26
has established at least
03:27
50 confucius institutes across 33
03:29
countries
03:30
several african countries use chinese
03:32
currency china also gets a strategic
03:34
overseas base
03:35
in 2017 china built its first overseas
03:38
base at the horn of africa
03:40
djibouti to be specific djibouti
03:42
connects the mediterranean sea to the
03:44
indian ocean via the swiss canal
03:46
the base has the capacity to accommodate
03:48
10 000 troops
03:50
china also gets a market to dump its
03:52
goods china is africa's largest trading
03:55
partner
03:55
chinese trade has increased 40 fold in
03:58
the last two decades at least 10 000
04:00
chinese firms operate in africa
04:01
this is according to a mckinsey study
04:03
africa has resources and china has
04:06
access did you know that a third of
04:08
china's investments in africa
04:10
are in the mining sector and finally it
04:12
gets to debt trap africa
04:15
but here's the thing china is not the
04:16
only country investing in this continent
04:18
it's not even the biggest
04:20
the united states is africa's largest
04:22
investor it accounts
04:24
for 54 billion dollars of fdi stock
04:27
there are 600 american companies
04:29
operating in south africa alone
04:31
and this even after the us president
04:33
called africa
04:35
this for the longest time africa was
04:37
nothing but a war zone for washington
04:39
it has over 7 000 troops deployed in the
04:42
continent
04:43
they're spread across some 13 african
04:45
countries including burkina faso
04:47
cameroon
04:48
central african republic chad democratic
04:50
republic of congo kenya libya
04:52
mali mauritania niger south sudan
04:55
somalia and tunisia
04:57
for the u.s africa was a continent for
04:59
counter-terrorism operations what
05:01
happened then
05:02
why is the u.s suddenly interested in
05:05
africa
05:06
the answer is this for the u.s africa is
05:08
now a new front to take on china and
05:10
washington is now fighting it out for
05:12
power and influence
05:14
an article on the u.s state department
05:16
website reads and i quote
05:18
africa is the continent of the future
05:20
thus we need to make the most of its
05:21
potential by 2050
05:23
its population will more than double to
05:25
2.2 billion people
05:27
with over 60 percent under the age of
05:29
25.
05:31
where is africa's interest in all of
05:32
this also what about india
05:35
what role does india play in this
05:36
continent new delhi's ties with africa
05:38
date back
05:39
to the time of mahatma gandhi india was
05:42
part of the bandung project
05:43
of 1955. new delhi supported africa's
05:46
anti-colonial struggles
05:48
it supported the liberalization
05:49
movements in ghana algeria tunisia
05:52
morocco angola mozambique guinea-bissau
05:55
india also raised the issue of racism in
05:57
south africa
05:58
it will be unfair to say though that
06:00
india's newfound interest in africa has
06:02
nothing to do with china
06:04
in 2018 indian prime minister narendra
06:06
modi toured key african states just
06:08
ahead of chinese president xi jinping's
06:10
visit
06:11
in 2018 india decided to open 18 new
06:14
embassies in africa india has defence
06:17
partnerships with zambia nigeria ghana
06:19
ethiopia botswana uganda mozambique and
06:22
namibia
06:23
new delhi is currently training african
06:24
military
06:26
indian company airtel is a dominant
06:28
telecom firm in africa
06:30
new delhi is offering 50 000
06:31
scholarships to african students
06:34
despite everything india is far behind
06:36
china in the race for africa china's
06:38
belt and road initiative
06:39
has sealed its hold on africa if in the
06:42
1900s africa was colonized with force
06:45
in 2020 it is being trapped by loans
06:48
china accounts for 14 of sub-saharan
06:50
debt in kenya the volume of chinese
06:52
loans is six times that of france which
06:54
is the country's second largest creditor
06:56
and sri lanka can tell you what happens
06:59
when chinese loans
07:00
are not repaid china is looking to
07:03
capture africa
07:04
it has a strong diaspora it is spending
07:06
big money it is selling its movies
07:08
culture and currency
07:09
china extracts raw materials it
07:11
manufactures products with them
07:13
and sells them back to this continent
07:15
does this remind you of something
07:18
what did the british do in india in the
07:20
19th century the rivalry between britain
07:22
and france fueled africa's colonization
07:25
in the 21st century the trade war
07:27
between the united states and china
07:29
is hastening the same just like the 19th
07:31
century there are numerous countries in
07:33
the scramble for africa and just like
07:35
the 19th century
07:37
there is nothing in it for africa
07:39
gravitas plus
07:40
co-presented by skodo simply clever