Western outlet alarmed by RT in Africa

Russia is spreading anti-Western sentiment in Africa through an RT billboard campaign depicting Moscow as a force against colonialism, a British outlet has claimed.

Africa Confidential (AC) calls itself “one of the longest-established specialist publications” on continental affairs, providing in-depth news and analysis to governments, corporate clients, universities and NGOs. The subscription-only outlet has been in circulation since 1960, with all authors remaining anonymous for safety reasons.

Earlier this week, AC published a report framing Moscow’s outreach as “disinformation about the West.” The outlet claims RT’s marketing campaign in sub-Saharan Africa builds on the legacy of efforts by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group private military company.

“Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport relays RT’s large-screen digital video promotions with anti-neocolonial messaging,” according to AC. 

“Billboards feature quotes from Ghana’s first Prime Minister and Pan-Africanist, Kwame Nkrumah, Tanzania’s first President Julius Nyerere, Uganda’s independence crusader Milton Obote and Zimbabwe’s freedom fighter-turned-tyrant Robert Mugabe,” the outlet added. 

Anti-colonial narratives are a “major feature of RT’s programming” although they may have little effect on younger generations, South African media analyst Anton Harber told AC. That is reportedly why RT has built a network of “African influencers” who praise Russia. 

As an example, AC brought up Joe Mhlanga, whom it identified as “a South African RT commentator.” However, Mhlanga has had exactly one interview with RT, in July, and was introduced as founder and editor of Behind the News Network.

The British outlet correctly quoted Mhlanga as praising “the good deeds the Russians are doing for the African people,” but left out the first part of that sentence, that “Africans are not supporting Russia or President [Vladimir] Putin because they are fighting the West.”

Mhlanga was interviewed about the remarks by EU top diplomat Josep Borrell, who argued the bloc needed to “reprogram” people in both Europe and Africa and “occupy the cyberspace” to counter Russian influence.

Africa Confidential also misattributed a quote from a March RT article to Togolese lawmaker Innocent Kagbara. A line about Egypt’s membership in BRICS allowing it to “change the whole world politically, economically and strategically” alongside Russia actually came from Egyptian professor Nourhan El-Sheikh.

Moscow has nurtured strategic partnerships with a number of African states in recent years. The second Russia-Africa Summit was held last year in St. Petersburg, with envoys from 49 states from the continent in attendance. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited four Sahel states and Congo in June. 

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