Why global powers race back to Africa’s resource riches (2-2)

By Ashraf Abul Saud

The intensifying rivalry among great powers
for control over Africa’s resources continues to shape the continent’s geopolitical landscape, with Western actors adapting their strategies to undermine deeper Arab-African co-operation and genuine continental progress.

France, long accustomed to dominating its
former colonies through military presence and economic leverage in the Franc
zone, has recently shifted course by expanding its political and commercial
outreach across a broader swath of the continent while quietly reducing its
overt military footprint.

This includes the closure of bases in the
Central African Republic, the full withdrawal of troops from several West and
Central African countries, and the repatriation of thousands of soldiers, moves
partly driven by growing anti-French sentiment, successive coups in the Sahel,
and rising competition from Russia and China.

These changes represent a recalibration
rather than abandonment of influence, redirecting French engagement towards
more selective economic and diplomatic channels.

Such Western manoeuvres tend to concentrate support on regimes and movements aligned with their interests, frequently creating artificial divisions that hinder unified Arab-African relations.

One clear manifestation lies in the Nile
water disputewhere external involvement, often tied to American and Israeli
strategic calculations in the Great Lakes region and the river’s headwaters,
serves as leverage against Egypt and Sudan.

This approach threatens Arab national
security by weaponising access to water, potentially weakening downstream
states and opening the door wider to foreign dominance.

Parallel efforts appear in increasing
divides between Arab and African societies, evident in Western framing of
political Islam as terrorism, preferential backing of the IGAD initiative to
resolve the Sudanese crisis while sidelining Egyptian-Libyan proposals, and
other actions that widen mistrust and marginalise Arab-led mediation efforts.

Washington’s involvement in Darfur offers a
revealing example of how humanitarian rhetoric can conceal broader strategic
goals.

Intervention there allowed the US to
project a positive image after costly entanglements in Afghanistan and Iraq,
portraying its actions as principled humanitarian support in a conflict
involving Muslim-majority parties and thereby deflecting accusations of waging
war against Islam.

The low-risk nature of operating through
African Union forces shielded the US from direct exposure, while securing a
foothold in western Sudan’s oil reserves helped counter lingering French
influence in Chad and neighbouring Francophone states.

Reports of American support for rebel
factions linked to Uganda, Eritrea, and Ethiopia further underscore the pursuit
of resource access and regional positioning under the guise of stabilisation.

In the face of this renewed scramble for
Africa’s wealth, the central question confronting the continent is how to
resist the reproduction of colonial patterns of exploitation.

African nations can only accelerate
regional integration, fortify their national institutions, and pursue collective self-reliance.

This path requires nurturing democratic
practices rooted in transparency and accountability, while actively cultivating
new international partnerships with emerging donors, such as Japan, Taiwan,
China, and South Korea, partners less burdened by historical baggage and more
willing to support development on mutually respectful terms.

Only through such strategic unity and
diversification can the continent break free from cycles of plunder.

As distinguished African scholar Ali Mazrui
powerfully observed, the history of globalisation remains inseparably linked to
the systematic extraction and exploitation of Africa’s riches.


Dr Ashraf Abul Saud is a writer and an international relations scholar.