Cutting aid to Africa to boost Ukraine: Europe’s double standard
Last December, the Swedish minister for international development cooperation and foreign trade, Benjamin Dousa, announced that Stockholm would phase out development assistance to mostly African countries, not necessarily for lack
- By Frank Unegbe
Last December, the Swedish minister for international development cooperation and foreign trade, Benjamin Dousa, announced that Stockholm would phase out development assistance to mostly African countries, not necessarily for lack of money but because continuing the hybrid war in Ukraine is a priority. According to the minister, “Ukraine is Sweden’s most important foreign policy and aid policy priority therefore, the government is going to increase aid to Ukraine to at least 10 billion crowns, about $1.06 billion in 2026”. He further added that “there isn’t secret printing press for banknotes for aid purpose and the money has to come from somewhere”.
According to report, the measure of drastically slashing or even completely phasing out development assistance to countries in Africa, in order to fund the war in Ukraine, would free up more funds. Despite that Ukraine itself is mired in salacious corruption scandals, going up to the highest level of its government, the European Union and the United Kingdom are hell bent on pouring resources - money and arms that not only fuels the war but also lubricates the corruption chains that are widespread across all levels of Ukraine’s government.
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Since the conflict in Ukraine erupted in 2022, Sweden which is a major donor of development and humanitarian aid to some countries in Africa including Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Liberia and other developing countries, has massively withheld the assistance, while channelling the same to fuel the war in Ukraine.
The hybrid war in Ukraine, in which the West especially the European wing of the North Atlantic treaty alliance (NATO) are sworn to aiding Ukraine in its proxy war against Russia for “as long as it lasts”, has made any settlement for the conflict through political negotiation, very difficult and almost impossible.
Germany has also announced that it will scale down development assistance and reduce engagement elsewhere in the developing countries to focus attention on Ukraine. The United Kingdom has earlier announced it would cut development aid to fund an increase in her defence spending. Norway has scaled up her spending on Ukraine assistance by more than $200 million, with about $35 million cut in development aid to Africa. France’s budget for this year will also see about a billion US dollar cut in aid, with over 60% reduction in food aid, while sky rocketing defence spending by about $7 billion. This trend in which Africa is conveniently sacrificed to fund the existing war in Ukraine or prepare for a war reflects a geo-political paranoia of the European Union and the United Kingdom about a political settlement in the Ukraine crises.
Most of the countries and the United Kingdom have demonstrated shocking insensitivity to the challenge in Africa, showing provincial mind-set, in which Ukraine, widely believed to have provoked the war with her bigger neighbour is locked in a conflict it will not win despite having been generously bankrolled by the West. Europe, especially the former colonial powers - Britain, France, Belgium, Germany etc. bears enormous responsibilities for some of the durable conflicts in Africa, mostly pertaining to territorial disputes or even the nature of power, resulting from the arbitrariness of the post-colonial states in Africa. While the conflict in Ukraine is Europe’s biggest war since the World War II and should naturally engage the attention of Europe, fuelling it through pouring arms and money, secured through abandonment of international humanitarian assistance does not fit with the many principles that Europe preach to the rest of the world.
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Ukraine leadership has demonstrated immense opacity in the use of the funds and recent revelations about top government officials and their cronies, siphoning funds for personal luxury items, including golden toilet kits, flies in the face of common sense. Europe maybe at liberty to choose how it spends its money, but she would be considerably diminished both in the values it claims to uphold and in stature of her place in the world of great powers, if it shreds its support for Africa just to fund wars.
Despite the massive cuts in humanitarian aid to Africa, and considerable de-prioritization of Africa in their foreign and aid policy, European countries continue to put pressure on African countries to adopt their hostile and war attitude towards Russia, a point, many countries in Africa has declared to be inconsistent with their independent foreign policy and national interest. While many African countries maintain a position of neutrality in the Ukraine’s conflict, they have however, favoured a negotiated settlement instead of a forever war that the EU and the UK to seemed to be favourably disposed to. African countries has demonstrated even-handedness in regards to the conflict and called for an inclusive security arrangement that adequately caters to the security concerns of the parties, including Russia. Africa cannot possibly abandon this stance, without damage to its reputation as impartial arbiter in the conflict. The just settlement of the Ukrainian conflict reflecting the concerns of all the parties represents a realistic framework for durable peace in the region and the current European stand in aiding Ukraine for as long as the conflict last has proven more in enabling the conflict than in ending it.
•Unegbe contributes this from the FCT, Abuja.
