A-Infos (en) Italy, UCADI #182: Assault on Africa (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Between blasts of trumpets and rolls of drums and pickets of honour, the 
Prime Minister retraces the paths of the Duce and turns her attention to 
Africa. You say you did it with a new spirit, that of the Catholic 
partisan Enrico Mattei, who however distinguished himself for a 
strenuous fight against the 7 sisters, to break their oil monopoly, and 
of this choice he became a victim. The Prime Minister says she is 
turning to Africa with a new look and equal intentions, however she has 
summoned 23 African nations to the solemn hall of the Senate of the 
Republic to present them with vague intervention plans, without having 
discussed them in advance with them, as she did kindly note the 
President of the African Union Azali Assoumani, Representatives of 
numerous countries of the Arabian Gulf, the World Bank and other 
international bodies also participated in the event, as well as Ursula 
von der Leyen, Roberta Mezzola and Luis Michel, desperate for votes in 
the imminence of the elections for the renewal of the Parliament of the 
European Union.
Shifting attention to the substantial level, we note that the intention 
of the prime minister, supported by her partner Eni, was to deal mainly 
with finding gas and setting up crops for the production of biofuel, 
taking away land useful for subsistence agriculture , which is one of 
the primary needs of African populations in their fight against hunger.
Beyond the vagueness of the programs, the Mattei plan appears poor in 
resources, because it has three billion euros subtracted from the 
allocations for the fight against climate change, and two and a half 
billion subtracted from international cooperation, spread over four 
years. The only qualifying fact, for the Prime Minister, is the creation 
of a control room at the Prime Minister's Office, under her direct 
control which will ensure financial and political control of the 
initiatives to her trusted entourage made up of 19 people.
The dirigiste nature of this operation should not be surprising. The 
"Mattei Plan" does not contemplate ex novo projects, but initiatives 
already underway: in fact it incorporates the agreements with Algeria to 
guarantee the supply of natural gas to Italy and Europe after the 
suspension of energy supplies from Russia, already defined by Draghi in 
April 2022; some of the cooperation and development projects to be 
implemented in Africa with the support of Eni, already foreseen in the 
company's industrial plans, before the definition of the "Mattei Plan", 
such as the production of biofuels in Kenya; other plans envisaged 
within the Migration Fund, the African Development Fund and bilateral 
agreements with individual states on the continent.

A fluff plan

Yet the problem of investments in Africa is serious and constitutes a 
necessary commitment, because it serves to counteract the constant 
growth of investments and political and military presence, both Chinese 
and Russian, on the continent. In fact, these two countries have been 
investing in Africa for some time, massively and with partly different 
operational characteristics.

The Chinese stand out for a policy of easy credit to African countries 
and for investments in infrastructure in exchange for a period of 
management entrusted to them to recover the cost of the intervention. 
Thanks to these initiatives, railways, roads, ports and airports have 
been built, which constitute stable, immovable structures that the 
recipient States acquire now and for the future. The construction is 
carried out mainly by Chinese labor and in any case represents a 
structural enrichment of these countries as it provides infrastructures 
that facilitate and facilitate the overall development of the territory, 
but effectively enfeoffing it to Chinese politics. China also has great 
interest in oil and mineral extraction and in rare earth extraction. 
From these relationships, China obtains overall penetration for its 
low-tech goods in local markets, effectively covering the needs of small 
trade.

Russia, on the other hand, stands out for an intervention that is mainly 
based on the creation of good relations thanks to the supply of 
foodstuffs, mainly wheat and cereals, supplied free of charge or at 
favorable prices, which is accompanied by an interest in mining and 
extractive activities. This presence is supported through the 
contracting of the supply of the necessary armaments to the various 
governments and by the support, when necessary, through mercenary troops 
organized in companies such as Wagner, which is only the most famous and 
well-known of a galaxy of mercenary organizations serving of the Kremlin.
It is no coincidence that none of the Sahel countries governed by 
military and dictatorial regimes were present in Rome, making the 
difficulties in approaching the problem clear.
It should be added that with the strengthening of the BRICS and even 
more so with their enlargement, the actors interested in intervening in 
Africa will increase, where India has long been present to a large 
extent and with an increasingly important role, with its own products 
and investments, Turkey which seems to have specialized in the 
construction of airports, the Arab countries, oil extractors, who are 
looking for good opportunities for their investments and who are 
acquiring an ever-increasing capacity for economic and financial 
intervention, as evidenced by their entry into the BRICS .
The fact is that Italy comes last in Africa and, even if it has managed 
to make us forget, at least in part, the tragic consequences of its 
colonial adventures, because the generation of those who suffered the 
damage is now dead and because more recent tragedies have dotted the 
history of Africa, obscuring its memory, however it suffers from the bad 
reputation of others, and above all of the post-colonial French 
presence, which caused enormous damage and sowed hatred and mistrust, 
which today appear difficult to overcome, and which allow both to China 
and Russia to be seen as privileged interlocutors in a constructive and 
useful relationship for the development of the economy of these 
countries; also because Russians and Chinese do not distinguish between 
the political regimes that govern these states, but maintain relations 
based on mutual interest. This does not mean that despite all these 
defects, the Italian action to penetrate the African economy will be 
strongly opposed both by France and England, as well as by the United 
States, which despite being effectively absent from the continent and 
not having its own policy for Africa, view the entry of any new player 
into the field with suspicion.
Having noted the absence of investment capital which Italy does not 
have, the program for Africa, although strategically valid, should have 
been supported by prior consultation with the European Union, 
highlighting the common interests in the area rather than by offering 
some European politicians in search of votes a catwalk on which to 
perform, which would certainly have allowed for greater availability of 
investment capital.
Furthermore, a diplomatic weaving of bilateral relations with individual 
countries would have been necessary, aimed at involving them in the 
development and planning of interventions, thus truly inaugurating a new 
methodology of truly equal relations. But despite Meloni's much-vaunted 
competence and diplomatic ability, the country's structures and its 
diplomacy do not have the ability to work in this direction, lacking a 
strategic vision of long-term international relations.
The one suggested is a strategic vision while instead the Italian 
government seems to be looking at immediate results and interprets the 
initiative as a tool to ensure that immigration finds a limit by 
obtaining the adoption of policies from cooperating countries in 
exchange for investments restrictive and control of the migratory flow. 
The evident failure of this intent is demonstrated by the fact that 
those who were absent from the Roman event were precisely the countries 
that hold control of the caravan routes for the transit of migrants from 
Central Africa to Europe, not to mention the absence of a country like 
Nigeria which, with its explosive demographic development, constitutes 
the reservoir from which migratory flows emerge and feed.

The Editorial Staff

https://www.ucadi.org/2024/02/17/assalto-allafrica/
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