Strategic importance of Rajnath Singh’s Nigeria visit
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh
represented India at the swearing in
of newly elected President Bola Ahmed Tunubu of Africa’s most populous country,
Nigeria. Significantly, he was accompanied by heads of defence public sector
undertakings, implying that the major thrust of the visit was defence exports
as part of the country’s Make in India initiative.
Recently, India courted Egypt
with military exercises, a visit of the Indian Army Chief and had its president
over as the Republic Day chief guest. Rightly, it is expanding its scope of
engagement with the West African behemoth, Nigeria, with this very first
visit of an Indian defence minister to that country.
It is of a piece with India’s
foreign policy thrust of late to enhance
ties with Africa, a continent with a future rooted in its wealth of
strategic minerals, youthful demographic profile and expanding continental
integration. India-Africa summits
are evidence.
Post Cold War, India's expanding
economy has led to a focused engagement with Africa, with India-Africa summits peppering
its outreach. This is in recognition of Africa being consequential to India’s
aspirations as a global power, best exemplified by its emphasis on multilateralism.
African middle powers in themselves and a future more fully integrated Africa
are potential poles in the desired world order.
Mindful of its advantages, India
is putting its best foot forward in projecting the defence sector. It has an
India-Africa Defence Dialogue in place, the second edition
of which was on the side-lines of the Defence Expo in Gandhinagar last year.
Defence exports
reaching Rs. 16000 crores owe in part to African militaries opting for Indian
technology and armaments that are affordable and, being technologically middle
range, are user friendly.
Figuring in choices abroad
enables India to meet its ambitions to be Atmanirbhar by expanding investment
into defence manufacturing and research and development. Economies of scale
result from an export market opening up could potentially entice the profit-oriented
private
sector into this field.
Military engagements take forward
India’s training engagements with African countries, ranging from Lesotho to
Uganda. At the Africa-India training exercise
at the foreign training node at Aundh this March, 25 African nations
participated in conduct of humanitarian operations under the United Nations’
(UN) flag.
Even so, the perspectives of
India and Africa on an aspect of peace and security need to be reconciled.
While Africa is prescient in drawing a link between climate change and
conflict, India wants that the peace and security agenda
of the Security Council is not unduly expanded for addressing this.
Since Africa stands for ‘African
solution to African problems’, India could up its support from peacekeeping
to also include the ambit of peacemaking and peacebuilding. The three together
form the three sides of the peace triangle, implying that a holistic Indian
contribution requires India to lend a hand in propping up the two sides other
than peacekeeping.
Peacemaking will require Indian
special envoys to bolster regional and UN initiatives. For peacebuilding presence
India must apportion more monies for the periodic global demands for voluntary
contributions of the UN agencies, funds and programs. It could even set up an
international aid agency of its own.
As defence minister, Rajnath
Singh, cannot but be tuned in to the new
scramble for Africa between the US, China and Russia, even as the presence
of the United Kingdom and France dissipates. This should suggest to him that as
an emergent great power, India cannot but also have a strategic approach to
Africa.
Given that its major strategic
competitor, China, is fairly ahead
in light of its deeper pockets, India needs appraising Africa in relation
China’s global scheme which sees Africa
at one extractive end of its Belt and Road Initiative. China now has a military
base in Africa, at Djibouti, even as it prepares two access routes to African
trade via Gwadar and through Myanmar. It now also has the largest Navy.
This is anticipatory pre-emption
of India’s prospective closure of the Malacca
Straits and intended war-time domination of the Indian Ocean. Preparation
for the worst case has a deterrent purpose. This strategic context to India’s
African outreach must inform India’s military diplomacy.
Finally, India has been a beacon
in Africa so far mostly for its progressive socio-political and economic developmental
model. India’s Vishwa-Guru aspiration should feed into its current-day politics
that otherwise unwittingly undercut its soft power. Its G20 leadership
opportunity must be used optimally as voice of the global
South to gain African favour.
