The legislative initiatives of the last few days seem to reverse the commonplace according to which Africa is little known and little considered in Italy. Despite our historical presence on the continent in various forms, this geographical area it is rarely placed first in the national political debate, if not for migratory flows. One of the causes is the distorted and limited vision that public opinion, the media and the ruling class have of the continent and its dynamics. It is interesting to note how the voice of Africa gained more space in the parliamentary hearings held in the context of the examination of the three-year planning and development cooperation policy document and in the Mission Decree under discussion in Parliament in recent weeks.
The representatives of the Farnesina (in particular of the DG for Cooperation and Development and of AICS) underlined the need to focus on the consequences that Covid19 will bring in terms of increasing inequalities by making extraordinary resources available in particular for the African continent. In the International Missions Decree currently being approved by the Chambers, it is clear that the military presence in Africa is significantly increasing: Sahel, Gulf of Guinea, Horn of Africa and Maghreb (the latter, a source of bitter controversy regarding funding for the Libyan Coast Guard) are the main theaters in which our soldiers will operate, in the context of various multilateral and non-multilateral operations.
Minister Guerini, interviewed by the Istituto Affari Internazioinali, commented: “In the EU context, the greatest commitment is in Africa since the entire Sahelian area is the object of an effort to assist the countries of the area in countering the jihadist threat. The double challenge for us Europeans is to build leadership that is not of a single EU member state, but of the Union as a whole, and build it in synergy with the Atlantic Alliance”. Without entering into the debate concerning the actual usefulness of military missions which often do not solve the problems at the root of Sub-Saharan crises, but respond more to purely geopolitical logics and to defend particular interests (the unrealistic fight against piracy, without understanding and addressing the structural problems that feed this phenomenon, is a clear example), these initiatives help to give more weight to Africa in our foreign policy.
The renewed attention towards these countries corresponds to the structural problem of a poor coordination of the Italian realities operating in Africa, and which often undermines the effectiveness and scope of their initiatives. Difficulty reiterated in the Foreign Affairs Commission, where the representatives of Italian cooperation underlined how the new multi-stakeholder approach to cooperation also recognized by law 125 has not yet found the means and instruments that can make the most of it. Relations between countries are a slow and complex process. In recent decades, Italy has neglected its immense southern neighbor, today told too often through clichés and simplifications, preventing us from seeing the heterogeneity, complexity and potential of the continent and from considering it an equal political and economic partner. Hence the urgency to intensify not only economic relations, but also political and cultural ones.
Other nations, having foreseen for some time the crucial importance of the African continent in the new international equilibrium, have anticipated this. Beijing's action demonstrates how trade is not limited to the economic field. Since the last century, African students have been regularly invited to study in China, while in recent months the Asian giant has promptly provided health assistance and increased bilateral aid by donating equipment of various kinds (tests, special clothing/equipment, masks), sending health care provider and sharing his experience”, thus reiterating the importance of Africa for its economic growth long-term and for its sphere of influence. India, for its part, announced in 2018 the opening of 18 new embassies in Africa. Turkey currently has 42, and Turkish Airlines flights to African destinations increased from 13 in 2009 to 52 in 2017.
The role played by the Turkish secret services in the release of Silvia Romano in Somalia, a country with which Italy has less and less relations, confirms Ankara's Sub-Saharan ambitions. In the aftermath of Brexit, Great Britain promptly organized the UK-Africa Investment Summit, held last January in London, to outline the guidelines for the coming years of this renewed collaboration. France, despite every President-elect announcing the end of Francafrique, continued to exert all its influence on the ex-colonies both on a political-military level (with the recent operations in the Sahel and RCA) and on an economic, development and cultural promotion level.
Berlin, for its part, can count on the firepower of the GIZ, the German cooperation agency, with resources allocated for Africa in 2018 amounting to €838.242.155 (32%), incomparable with those of the Italian AICS, stopped at just over 50 million for the same geographical area. In addition to a significant military presence, Germany can count on a dense network of foundations linked to German parties which contribute to increasing its influence in a large part of the continent (the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Konrad-AdenauerStiftung, for example, have opened 20 and 14 offices respectively in this area of the world). In the end, the European Union remains the main trading and political partner, as well as the largest donor,
of Africa.
In this sense, the new Commission has reaffirmed its willingness to intensify relations with this continent: Ursula Von der Leyen's first extra-EU trip was to Addis Ababaheadquarters of the African Union. While on the one hand it would be unthinkable to compete against these international giants without acting within the EU, on the other, Italy could intensify its bilateral initiatives towards Africa, proposing itself as an interlocutor capable of offering its excellence and sensitive to the requests of these countries, as stated by Giuseppe Mistretta, Africa Director of the Farnesina: “We are good interpreters of African expectations at the European level and at the G7/G20 level. We are certainly more so than the Nordic countries”.
