Coronavirus pandemic creates US-China ‘derby’ over Africa

Thursday marked 100 days since China formally reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) that the Covid-19 or the novel coronavirus disease had attacked China.

The virus has infected more than 1.5 million and killed 102,000 by Friday morning.

But as countries battle to save their people, the fight also created a match over influence in Africa.

This week, African leaders rallied to the defence of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom after US President criticised him for “missing a call” in handling the crisis.

Trump went on to threaten funding the WHO, saying the global health body had been “China-centric” in its dealings.

Trump’s reaction came as the US topped the world death rates from coronavirus at 18, 325 people out of 493, 08 7 infections.

CRUCIAL INFORMATION

China, where the virus began in late December had 33,336 deaths out of 81,907 infections, but with only one new death on Friday following days without.

Specifically, Trump feels China sat on crucial information that could have helped other countries prepare. Beijing denied the charge, saying US in fact ignored the very information.

Whether the WHO Dr Tedros or China was the actual target wasn’t clear. And Rwandan President did question the target of the criticism in his defence of Dr Tedros, a former Ethiopian Health, and Foreign Minister.

Some experts told the Nation that Trump was looking for a scapegoat as elections come nearer, and death numbers rising over coronavirus.

“Trump is passing the buck. The WHO Director-general has done a very good job. It is unprecedented because the WHO made mistakes during the Ebola outbreak (in 2006 in West Africa). But they learnt and acted early,” said Farah Maalim, a former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.

“It is pure racism. I mean, I didn’t like the man when he was Foreign Minister because he presided over some dirty operations for the regime, but as WHO, we got to give credit where it is due,” Maalim added, saying African leaders had to stand up to racism.

'FACT SHEET'

This week too, the State Department released a ‘fact sheet’ on US health contribution to Africa for the last 20 years, arguing it was the largest contribution to the UN humanitarian agencies as well as the WHO.

“The United States is by far the most generous and reliable contributor to crisis response and humanitarian action through the United Nations and dozens of international organisations,” a State Department spokesman said.

“US assistance, monetary and in-kind contributions, expertise and technology, are indispensable to the effort to combat COVID-19.”

The US actually gave $400 million (Ksh42 billion) to the WHO in 2019, nearly ten times what China gave, although the US still hasn’t paid up its WHO membership fees amounting to $200 million.

In the last 20 years, it has spent $100 billion (Sh10 trillion) on health in Africa (or $900 million annually) according to the State Department. That amount includes $7 billion (Sh700 billion) in Kenya, where it has funded some 279 labs under an anti-HIV programme known as [President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief] PEPFAR.

Dr Kemoli Sagala, a governance and Strategy expert in Nairobi said the Chinese may have understated their case load; but attacking the WHO is an indirect game.

“The WHO is a proxy target for great power rivalry amidst the global pandemic. In the realist view, the great powers fund international institutions for self-interest and the first conditionality post-Covid19 will be the reconstitution of the WHO, and probably westernise it,” he told the Sunday Nation.

“The World needs a robust and effective WHO.”

US DOMINANCE

But if WHO wasn’t the target, who was? Some experts think say the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has created an unusual common stand among African leaders is a pointer.

“With its growing economic might, China is challenging US dominance globally and in Africa in particular where it seems to be having an upper hand due to the robust economic diplomacy and trade ties it has built across the continent,” Peter Mwencha, the Secretary and CEO of the International Relations Society of Kenya, an association of foreign policy specialists.

“There are concerns that the rivalry could see African countries being forced to choose between which of the two powers to side with. However, African countries have come of age and are able to decide on their own who to work with based on their national interest,” he added.

China is already the biggest trading partner of Africa (worth about $200 billion, compared to US’s $40 billion) and taking over most of the infrastructure projects (worth about $2 trillion since 2005), albeit accused of burdening the continent with debt, the pandemic may have given Beijing a new way of influence in ‘donation diplomacy’.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma recently sent testing kits and has pledged to send in more protective gear. Beijing recently indicated it might send its medics to some countries, even though the decision has been controversial in Nigeria.

DIRTY GAMES

Kigen Morumbasi, an International Relations Lecturer at the Strathmore University told the Nation the rivalry could involve dirty games.

“It’s very clear that dirty games and misinformation are being used by both sides to gain an upper hand in the COVID propaganda wars,” he said.

“Already, 'politicisation' of the virus (so-called Covid-19 politics, including its name) is playing out at the WHO whose African head has been accused by the US of being a puppet of China.

Chinese news outlets have also accused US soldiers of intentionally bringing the virus to China (and there has been debate in the US on whether China sat on information),” he said.

AFRICA'S INTEREST

Whatever happens though, experts warned, Africa should side with either.

“It is in Africa’s best interest not to choose one side or the other,” said Leonard Wanyama, an International relations expert and Coordinator at the accountability group, East African Tax and Governance Network.

“This is an opportunity for Africa to put its case for a multi-polar world.  The US has retreated from global leadership as it deals with internal affairs leaving China to fill the vacuum. This abdication risks further dominance by China vis-a-vis African because of economic dependency as a result of indebtedness.

As soon as the virus hit Africa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wrote to the G20, a grouping of world’s richest countries, seeking assurances for a cushion on African economies.

Mr Peter Mwencha thinks Africa will need the aid to recover their battered economies. The Question, he posed, is to whether the US will be strong enough to help, when its own backyard is fighting a massive health challenge.

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