This Tuesday (7), the government of Sao Tome and Principe announced a military cooperation treaty with Russia, becoming yet another country in Africa that approaches Moscow.
The former Portuguese colony approaches Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic and Niger as a member of the area of Russian influence on the mother continent.
The small island country announced last Thursday (2) that it would ask for reparations for the Portuguese colonization on the island, using the wake opened by the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
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According to Sputnik, “the agreement stipulates that both parties agreed to cooperate in the following areas: joint training of troops, recruitment of armed forces, use of weapons and military equipment, logistics, exchange of experience and information in the fight against ideology of extremism and international terrorism, education and personnel training”.
São Tomé and Príncipe has access to the Atlantic Ocean and could be a strategic point for Russia within the Atlantic, a region of majority American influence.
Russian influence on the African continent
The move confirmed this Tuesday (7) is part of a long-standing trend: Russia has significantly expanded its military influence in Africa in recent years through various methods, such as military cooperation agreements, the deployment of private military companies such as the Wagner Group and the supply of weapons.
In addition to the aforementioned countries, which have recently had government changes or have support from the Wagner Group to combat jihadists, Algeria, South Sudan, Angola, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana have a significant part of their military budget directly connected to the defense industry. Russian.
Russia has concluded military cooperation agreements with 43 African countries and remains an important arms supplier to the continent.
Moscow’s strategic objectives in Africa involve the establishment of military bases, especially in the Sahel region, to protect investments and secure resources, aiming to reshape the international order in its favor.
Currently, African countries have friendlier relations with Russia than with their former colonizers or even with the USA, which is only losing influence in the region.
China’s massive investments in infrastructure and Moscow’s true support against terrorist groups are part of the so-called reordering of the world.
And the South-South cooperation full steam ahead.
