Denmark’s new Africa strategy
Denmark presented a new Africa strategy on Monday, strengthening its efforts on the continent. The measures set out in the strategy emphasise Denmark’s aim to win over Africa as a key partner for Europe on geopolitical issues and to counter the influence of China and Russia on the continent. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen explained that the reorganisation of Denmark’s priorities in relation to Africa is in an effort to ensure that Denmark and the European Union become Africa’s ‘preferred partner’, while the continent is faced with the decision to orientate itself more towards the East or the West.
In detail, the new strategy entitled ‘Africa’s Century’ deals with the promotion of equal economic partnerships and investment relations with African countries. Among other things, a new financing instrument totalling DKK 150 million (EUR 20.11 million) will be created to cover the export risks of Danish companies in Africa. The investment fund for developing countries will also be strengthened in order to support smaller projects.
Other key points of the strategy are the opening of embassies in Tunisia, Senegal and Rwanda by 2025 and the strengthening of diplomatic staff at the embassies in Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana. The embassies in Burkina Faso and Mali will be closed due to military coups that have severely restricted the political room for manoeuvre in the Sahel region. Both countries have turned to Russia since military leaders took power in 2020 and 2022, and the Russian Africa Corps, which is considered the successor to the Wagner Group, is active in both countries. As a result, Mali’s relations with European countries have recently deteriorated. Nevertheless, a special envoy for the Sahel region is to be appointed, who will also cover the Great Lakes region.
Another focus of the Danish Africa strategy is on climate adaptation and sustainable development. More than DKK 1 billion (EUR 134 million) is to be invested in water initiatives in Africa to mitigate the serious effects of climate change such as droughts and floods. In addition, Danish technologies, which are market-leading and in high demand from African countries, are to be used more in areas such as water management and green energy, said Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, Dan Jørgensen.
The strategy also provides for increased cooperation in the area of security. For example, Denmark intends to participate in an EU military training mission in Somalia for the first time. In addition to economic and security policy measures, the Scandinavian country also wants to promote cultural exchange and education. In this regard, more African students are to be given the opportunity to study in Denmark and cultural initiatives such as the renovation of the Karen Blixen House in Nairobi are intended to strengthen cultural ties.
Alongside Denmark, Spain will also present a new strategy for its relations with Africa in the coming weeks, with West Africa and the Sahel region at the centre of the paper. Key issues in the strategy will focus on curbing illegal migration, as revealed in talks currently being held by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal. Sánchez announced this on Wednesday without giving any further details.
Increasing repression ahead of Algeria’s presidential election
On Wednesday, the Algerian National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (Comité national pour la libération des détenus, CNLD) announced the arrest of opposition politician Fethi Ghares a few days before the presidential election on 7 September. Ghares, a former coordinator of the now banned Mouvement Démocratique et Social (MDS) party, was arrested in the capital Algiers on Tuesday, according to his wife Messaouda Cheballah. In a video published on Facebook, Cheballah said that the police had arrested her husband without a warrant. However, there was no official comment on the arrest. His current whereabouts also remain unknown.
Ghares, 49, who belongs to Algeria’s secular opposition, joined the pro-democracy Hirak movement in 2019, which succeeded in preventing a fifth term in office for long-serving President Abdelaziz Bouteflika through mass demonstrations. Ghare’s arrest is the latest in a series of arrests of prominent opposition figures in the run-up to the presidential election. Last month, Karim Tabbou, opposition leader and another prominent representative of the Hirak-movement, was placed under house arrest and banned from any political activity. Also in July, Louisa Hanoune, the leader of the Algerian Labour Party (Parti des travailleurs, PT), who was considered a presidential candidate, declared her intention to boycott the election due to the legal framework, which she described as regressive and anti-democratic. Hanoune’s announcement came just two days after head of state Abdelmadjid Tebboune himself officially announced his candidacy for a second term in office.
In addition to Tebboune, 15 other candidates had initially officially submitted their candidature. However, after examination by the state-controlled electoral authority (Autorité Nationale Indépendante des Èlections, ANIE), only three of them managed to collect the necessary signatures to be included on the ballot paper. The electoral law requires either at least 50,000 signatures from registered voters in at least half of the country’s 58 provinces (wilayats) or signatures from 600 elected representatives from the parliaments at municipal, provincial or national level, which must also be spread across at least 29 of Algeria’s wilayats. Tebboune will therefore only face Youcef Aouchiche, the leader of the largest opposition party Front des forces socialistes (FFS), and Abdelaali Hassani Cherif from the Islamist party Mouvement de la société pour la paix (MSP) in the election on 7 September. Aouchiche had surprisingly announced his participation in the presidential election after the FFS had systematically refused to put forward its own candidate since 1999, as it had always accused the respective incumbent governments of rigging the election. In view of the country’s profound crisis, however, the party’s current leadership considers this stance to be outdated.
Tebboune, who came to power in 2019 as a result of the Hirak movement with the support of the powerful and influential Algerian military in a highly controversial and widely boycotted election, is once again running as an independent candidate. In his first election, the now 78-year-old won 58 per cent of the vote, which equated to only 20 percent of Algeria’s registered voters due to the low turnout.
More than 24 million Algerians will be eligible to vote on 7 September. However, observers also expect a low voter turnout in this year’s election, which is due to widespread disenchantment with politics, particularly among younger voters. In February, Amnesty International expressed concern about developments in the North African country and warned of increasing repression of the media, the opposition and civil society. In view of the political climate, an election victory for Tebboune is considered likely despite growing dissatisfaction among large sections of the population.
In other news
Nigeria has appointed Bruno Labbadia as the new coach of its national football team. This was announced by the national association on social media on Tuesday. The 58-year-old former German national player is an experienced Bundesliga coach with stages at Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg and Hertha BSC Berlin. He now takes up his first post as head coach outside Germany just twelve days before Nigeria’s first qualifier for the Africa Cup, which takes place in Benin on 7 September. In addition to qualifying for the Africa Cup, qualification for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the US is a declared goal for Labbadia. The Super Eagles are under pressure, as they are only in fifth place in their group after four of ten match days in the World Cup qualifiers. Meanwhile, Labbadia is already the sixth German to lead the Nigerian national team. With Gernot Rohr, the team last had a German coach from 2016 to 2021, who can also claim the title of the Super Eagles‘ longest-serving coach.