Events

Back

Russia’s influence in Africa – A security perspective

From

21
3:00 pm February 2023
Add to Calendar 2023-02-21 15:00:00 2025-04-25 05:19:17 Russia’s influence in Africa – A security perspective Description Location Policy Center Policy Center Africa/Casablanca public

Registration: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/russias-influence-in-africa-a-security-perspective/#event-registration

In partnership with the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) and in coordination with the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, the Africa Center is proud to present cutting-edge research on Russia’s influence in Africa, a security perspective on the occasion of the 1-year anniversary of the Ukraine war.

During the March 2022 UNGA vote on the resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, seventeen African nations abstained. This vote and the growing influence of the BRICS chaired this year by South Africa send a clear signal to western countries that Africans are not bounded to a particular partner and beyond China, Russia is a strong competitor with strategic and deep-rooted ties on the continent. After the withdrawal of the French Barkhane and the European Takuba force, Wagner mercenaries’ growing role in the Sahel marks a major change in the region while the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine worsen the humanitarian situation on the ground through the increase of energy prices and the food insecurity. Four years after Sotchi, a Russia-Africa Summit will follow the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit of December 2022. Secretary Yellen’s recent 10-day trip to Senegal, Zambia, and South Africa is an important shift in the US strategy and is aimed at fostering a strategic partnership with Africans whose voice, economic potential, and geopolitical posture are more critical than ever.

During the Summit, the Biden-Harris administration announced plans to invest $55 Billion in Africa over the next three years. What will be its answer to Russian influence in Africa? What kind of cooperation should be set up with French and European allies?

AGENDA

3:00 pm-3:10 pm

Welcoming Remarks

Karim El Aynaoui, Executive President, Policy Center for the New South

Rama Yade, Senior Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center

03:10 pm-03:30 pm

Reports presentation: Russia’s influence in Africa

Moderator 

Chris Condon, Journalist, Bloomberg News

Panelists 

Sarah Daly, Fellow, Atlantic Council’s Africa Center

Abdelhak Bassou, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South

03:30-03:40 pm

Keynote speaker

Major General Kenneth P. Ekman, Director of Strategy, Engagement, and Programs, United States Africa Command
03:40-04:15 pm

Reports discussion

Moderator 

Chris Condon, Journalist, Bloomberg News

Panelists                                

Nataliya Bugayova, Russia Fellow, Institute for the Study of War

Ovigwe Eguegu, Policy Analyst, Development Reimagined

Michael Shurkin, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council’s Africa Center

Petr Tuma, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council’s Europe Center

04:15-04:25 pm

Q&A

04:25-04:30 pm

Closing remarks          

Franklin D. Kramer, Atlantic Council Board Member, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
Speakers
Major General Kenneth P. Ekman
Director of Strategy, Engagement, and Programs US Africa Command
Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Ekman is the Director, Strategy, Engagement, and Programs, U.S. Africa Command, Stuttgart Möhringen, Germany. In this capacity, he contributes to U.S. policy and strategy, develops theater campaign, operational and force posture plans, integrates international and African partner military efforts, and conducts U.S. inter-agency and international engagements consistent with U.S. Africa Command priorities. Maj. Gen. Ekman received his commission in 1991 after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He has primarily flown sailplanes, the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F-22 Raptor, and has commanded at the squadron, wing, and Air Expeditionary Task Force levels. His staff assignments include service at U.S. Air Forces Central Command, Office of the Secretary ...
Karim El Aynaoui
Executive President
Karim El Aynaoui is Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South. He is also Executive Vice-President of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Dean of its Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences Cluster.   Karim El Aynaoui is an economist. From 2005 to 2012, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco where he held the position of Director of Economics, Statistics, and International Relations. At the Central Bank of Morocco, he was in charge of the Research Department and equally a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. Previously, he worked for eight years at the World Bank as an Economist for its regional units of the Middle East and North Africa and Africa.   Karim El Aynaoui has published books and journal articles on macroeconomic issues in developing countr ...
Franklin D. Kramer
Distinguished Fellow and Board Director Atlantic Council
Franklin D. Kramer is a distinguished fellow and board director of the Atlantic Council. Mr. Kramer has served as a senior political appointee in two administrations, including as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. At the Department of Defense, Mr. Kramer was in charge of the formulation and implementation of international defense and political-military policy, with worldwide responsibilities including NATO and Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In the non-profit world, Mr. Kramer has been a senior fellow at CNA; chairman of the board of the World Affairs Council of Washington, DC; a distinguished research fellow at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy of the National Defense University; and an adjunct pr ...
Sarah A. Daly
Fellow Atlantic Council’s Africa Center
Sarah A. Daly is a nonresident fellow with the Africa Center. She specializes in African geopolitical and security developments, and her research portfolio includes violent extremism, foreign influence, intrastate conflict, natural resource exploitation and extractive industry, and democracy and governance. She is a graduate student in African Studies at Yale University, prior to which she worked as a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in Virginia. Sarah previously completed a Fulbright fellowship in Argentina and has worked as a legal analyst in New York and for a non-profit organization in Kenya. She holds a B.A. in History and English from Amherst College in Massachusetts. ...
Abdelhak Bassou
Senior Fellow
Abdelhak Bassou is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. He is also an Affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. Bassou has had an extensive career in Moroccan National Security, where he served in various capacities including as head of the border division from 1978 to 1993. He was the former director of the Royal Institute of Police in 1998 and served as Head of Regional Security (Errachidia 1999-2003, Sidi Kacem 2003-2005) and as Central Director of General Intelligence from 2006 to 2009.   He holds a master's degree in political science and international studies from the Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Sciences in Rabat. His academic research delves into inte ...
Chris Condon
US Treasury and Economic Policy Reporter Bloomberg News
Christopher Condon is a reporter at Bloomberg News covering the Treasury Department and US economic policy. He recently accompanied Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a 12-day trip across Africa -- part of the Biden administration's efforts to build ties across the continent. Before his current assignment, Condon covered the Federal Reserve. He also spent 15 years, beginning in 1992, in Eastern Europe writing about the region's post-communist transformation. ...
Michael Shurkin
Senior Fellow Atlantic Council’s Africa Center
Michael Shurkin is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. Shurkin is an expert in European defense and West African politics and security. He holds a PhD from Yale University, and his experience includes serving on the National Security Council, being the senior political scientist at RAND, and serving as a political analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. Currently, he is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, an adjunct professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, the director of global programs at 14 North Strategies, and the founder and president of Shurbros Global Strategies. ...
Petr Tůma
Visiting Fellow Europe Center
Petr Tůma is a visiting fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center. He is a Czech career diplomat with an expertise on Europe, Middle East and transatlantic relations. Petr previously worked at the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC. He was earlier posted as a Deputy Chief of the Czech Embassy in war-torn Syria and held the same position in Ramallah/Jerusalem. He also has a working experience from Cairo.  Before joining Czech Foreign Service, Petr taught philosophy and anthropology at Charles University in Prague. He earned his M.A. in modern philosophy from University Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne). In Paris, he served as a personal assistant to Professor Paul Ricœur. ...
Nataliya Bugayova
Russia Fellow Institute for the Study of War
Nataliya Bugayova is a non-resident Russia Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Nataliya led ISW's Russia and Ukraine research team from 2019-2020 and has been ISW’s Russia Fellow since 2018. Her work focuses on the Kremlin’s foreign policy decision-making, information operations, and ongoing global campaigns - including in the former Soviet Union and Africa. Nataliya is the author of “How We Got Here with Russia: The Kremlin’s Worldview” and "Putin's Offset: The Kremlin's Geopolitical Adaptations Since 2014." Her written work and interviews have been featured in media outlets including Foreign Policy, PBS NewsHour, NBC News, Fox News, The Hill, BBC, Voice of America, and others. As ISW’s Development Director from 2016-2019, she also led growth efforts and plann ...
Ovigwe Eguegu
Policy Analyst Development Reimagined
Ovigwe is a Policy Analyst at Development Reimagined. He focuses on geopolitics with particular reference to Africa in a changing global order. Specifically, his work includes policy analysis and publications on how great power politics affect developments in the region; with a special focus on regional/international security, institutions-alliances, and initiatives-projects. Ovigwe regularly features in international media including Al Jazeera, TRT World, CGTN, DW News, and the BBC. His articles have appeared on The Diplomat, Foreign Policy Magazine, and The Africa Report. Ovigwe is frequently invited to policy dialogues, seminars and workshops hosted by leading think-tanks including the Institute for Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations and the South African Insti ...
Rama Yade
Director, Africa Center Atlantic Council
Ambassador Rama Yade is director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center and senior fellow for the Europe Center. She is also a teacher of African affairs at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco and, since 2017, at Sciences Po Paris. Prior to joining the Council, she was a consultant for the World Bank, advising the institution on education, youth, sports, human capital, and disability issues in Africa. She also has strong experience in the private sector as an editor in London, where she overviewed a collection of books about African millennials, and as director for development at a French consulting firm in corporate and social responsibility. Ambassador Yade has over a decade of experience working in French, European, and international politics. At the age of thirt ...