Russia has long been the biggest exporter of arms to sub-Saharan Africa, but a new study indicates Western sanctions are making it harder for Moscow to sell weapons, opening the door for more Chinese-made arms.
Even before the Ukraine war, China had increased its sales of weapons to sub-Saharan Africa, exporting almost three times as many arms to the region between 2017 and 2020 as the United States, according to athis month by the Atlantic Council. The lion's share went to just five African countries where China has invested heavily in its key infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative.
"U.S. sanctions of many Russian defense contractors are forcing Nigeria to consider alternatives: China is clearly the default option as the growing relationship between China and Nigeria in the past few years has also made China the top arms exporter to Nigeria, surpassing Russia in arms exports for two consecutive years," it found.The Atlantic Council estimated that between 2010 and 2021, Russia accounted for 24% of all arms exports to sub-Saharan Africa, China for 22% and the U.S.
"It's lax on the part of China, on the part of Russia, some of these autocratic countries, compared to the U.S.," he said, noting that in the past Nigeria has turned to Russia for arms in its fight against Boko Haram because the U.S. was concerned their weapons could be used in abuses. "I believe that the sanctions that have been incurred by Russia, by the Russian government, by Russian defense companies is obviously a boon for China... China really stands to benefit," he said, adding that"strategically speaking China and Russia are actually competitors when it comes to weaponry on the African continent."
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