History tells us that Alexander Pushkin, the greatest 19th century Russia poet, had an Ethiopian forefather called Hannibal who was a general under Peter the Great and this is not the stuff of legend. It is a historical fact. Pushkin was of a noble family and was, at one point in his youth, assigned to the Russian Ministry of foreign affairs where he mixed with high society people but his really calling was literature. He soon abandoned Petersburg to come to Moscow where he became a famous writer of poems, short stories and novels. These works are considered classics of Russian literature.
Ethiopian foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew was in Moscow recently holding talks with Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart. The full details of the talks may not be available but the media have been writing and speaking about the forthcoming October conference in the resort town of Sochi in Russia.
From sources close to Russian diplomacy, one can guess or conclude that Gedu’s visit has something to do with the forthcoming Sochi conference planned to take place next October. Russian political and business leaders, and strategists on global political and economic relations are expected to brush shoulders with leaders and invited guests from African countries. Most Russia observers expect that the conference is expected to usher in Russia’s first serious overture towards Africa in at this particular time when the continent is increasingly attracting the attention of big economic power players in strategic economic or business areas.
It is no secret that China and the West are already trying to build a strong presence in the African continent economically and strategically and it is natural that Russia as a member of the Big League deserves its share of the pie in Africa whose economic potentials and its business opportunities have already started to make it the epicenter of future global growth.
This would also be the first Russian overture since the end of the Cold War and the implosion of the Soviet Union back in early 1990s. In the last 28 years since then, Russia was mainly busy putting its house in order and paid less attention to global affairs. It was rebuilding its economy under its new orientation and emerge once again as one of the economic powers in the world. It has now emerged as one of the eight biggest economies in the world and this entitled it to play a more active role in global economic affairs.
The diplomatic relations between Russia and Ethiopia go back to the imperial times when the Russian tsars and Ethiopian emperors made the first contacts through their envoys. Russia and Ethiopia had many things in common. They were ruled by monarchies and the peoples of the two countries shared the same orthodox Christian faith that served as a spiritual link between them. Historically too, Russia and Ethiopia have fought many foreign invaders who tried to conquer them.
Russia could repeal the offensives of some of the most ferocious invaders such as Napoleon’s invasion in the early 19th century and Hitler’s incursions into its territory during the Second World War. Writing on this episode Encarta encyclopedia put the issue in clear terms by saying that, “The war’s most massive encounter, dubbed Operation Barbarossa, began on the morning of June 22, 1941, when slightly more than 3 million German troops invaded the USSR.”
Both countries have therefore a common legacy of defeating foreign invasions that ended with the victory of their peoples. Ethiopia fought back Italian invasion before and during the last great war and shined diplomatically at the defunct League of Nations. It is worth remembering that Russia was the only European power that opposed Italian invasion and occupation of our country during World War II. This happened during a time when Russia was called the Soviet Union and fought gallantly the incursions fascism made in Ethiopia and elsewhere. It was the most dependable member of the anti-fascist international alliance that emerged during the war.
Official diplomatic relations between the two countries was established back in 1943 and since then the two countries have established strong political, diplomatic and economic links that grew in importance in the decades that followed the establishment of embassies in their respective capitals.
Following the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, the two countries had entered into an era of greatest relations of cooperation in all fields of endeavors. They signed multiple cooperation agreements in the political, economic and military areas.
One of the most memorable moments or the high point in Russo-Ethiopian relations came in 1977 when then Somali president Siad Barre decided to invade the eastern parts of the Ethiopia in its bid to create what he called “Greater Somalia” by occupying among others, the Ogaden region. Russia sided Ethiopia and trained and armed hundreds of thousands of soldiers who, with the help of Cuban military experts and other friendly countries, beat back the invading forces and restored Ethiopian sovereignty.
In the 1980s Russia and other socialist countries helped Ethiopia build electric power dams and a number of factories. They provided financial assistance to the government at a time when international lending institutions refused to meet their obligations as they were siding with the then Western policy of isolating the USSR and Ethiopia diplomatically, politically and economically in order to bring about regime change.
The last 27 years since the fall of the military regime in Ethiopia, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ethio-Russian relations remained at an all time low. Both countries were busy dealing with their internal political upheavals. The two countries went through many ups and downs and the volume of trade transactions between Russia and Ethiopia remained largely stagnant as both countries faced economic difficulties brought about with the new international order. However, Russia showed common sense if not generosity by writing off Ethiopia’s estimated 10 billion USD loan, mainly in the form of military hardware that was given during the war in the Ogaden.
Recent global events as well Ethiopian government’s reform policy in its foreign relations seems to have finally ended the long diplomatic freeze end led to the present thaw in relations between the two countries. The international context has increasingly become conducive to the revival of old friendship between the two countries.
Russia has emerged from its difficult years and is claiming its rightful place in the diplomatic as much as in the business world. The forthcoming Sochi conference should therefore be seen in this light. Russia seems more determined than ever to renew its old ties of friendship with African countries as part of its strategic move to become competitive with other economic powers such as the United States and China.
This can also be a legitimate ambition since Russia has enough economic, political and military muscle to make inroads into Africa in its bid to carve up its own niche or promote its national interests. This may be acceptable for Africa so long as the process takes place in a peaceful and mutually beneficial manner and not in the way old colonial powers tried and failed to penetrate and control the continent.
African countries should see this as another opportunity and not as a threat of what was known in bad old days as “Russian hegemonic ambition”. African countries can benefit from the presence of big economic powers in order to boost their trade, technology, kills, sfinancial resources and joint development ventures.
Africa possesses vast natural resources it can use to attract big economic powers and benefit from their expertise, skills and technology. The Chinese experience in Africa can perhaps be used as a good precedence although there are some dark corners in Sino-African relations that need rectification. African countries have enormously benefitted from Chinese economic presence and this can serve as a positive model for relations with other economic powers.
Times have changed and we are no more living in the old days of the Cold War. We are living in a world increasingly coming together and there is nothing that can be achieved by remaining closed or isolated from international political, economic and diplomatic events. Ethiopia, as a developing country with an ambitious to become one of the leading economic powers in Africa needs the uninterrupted assistance of more developed countries like Russia.
The new policy of economic reform, privatization of big domestic companies and similar endeavors are bound to attract investors from Russia while Russian experience in the heavy industry and agricultural sectors will certainly prove big assets rather than liabilities. The age of ideology in foreign relations has ended and the age of pragmatism or realism has set in.
This kind of pragmatic diplomacy has already paid dividends for Ethiopia and it will continue to do so in the coming years or decades that will be the decades of Ethiopia rising economically to claim the place it deserves in international relations. The coming Sochi conference in Russia will definitely mark a critical turning point in Russo-African and Russo-Ethiopian cooperation and joint efforts for peace and economic development. In this sense Russia needs Ethiopia as much as Ethiopia needs Russia.
The Ethiopian Herald SUNDAY EDITION October 13, 2019
BY MEHARI BEYENE
