Free Republic

This week, a diplomat at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), the collective defence alliance between Europe and North America, hinted the organisation will raise its engagement with Africa, ostensibly to ward off the growing influence on the continent of China and Russia. Russia through the controversial paramilitary company Wagner Group — is now operating in various African states. The idea is to foster improved bilateral relations on security, anti-terrorism efforts and in other fields of cooperation, all in a “pivot to Africa.”On Wednesday, Julianne Smith, US Permanent Representative to Nato, told an African media briefing that the defence alliance...