Will Putin"s Ukraine war provoke famine and upheaval in Africa

Dirk Kohnert

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Famines are almost always man-made often used as a deterrent. Since ancient times, food and hunger have been a weapon of war. Among the most notorious examples in Africa are the Herero and Namaqua genocide in German South-West Africa (now Namibia) from 1904 to 1908. It was the first genocide of the 20th century. Also, the subsequent famines in Biafra (South-East Nigeria, 1967-1969), when an estimated 1.5 million people starved to death, the 1980 famine in Uganda, one of the worst in African history, when 21% of the population died, and the recurring famines in Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan since the 1990s have been burned into human memory. The use of food as a weapon was condemned as a war crime by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998. Since most African countries are Least Developed Countries (LLCs), they will suffer the hardest in the aftermath of Putin's war in Ukraine, especially Africa's poor. They have already suffered the consequences of drought, the corona pandemic and Islamist terrorism. Their already weakened position will be exacerbated by the spill-over effects of Russian aggression in Ukraine, which will further exacerbate hunger and poverty in Africa. All the more so as international development aid to Africa is likely to suffer from a massive redirection of aid to rearmament. Last but not least, Putin's war in Ukraine will have a major impact on EU-Africa relations. In view of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic for Africa, it will further damage the mutual trust between both partners. About 86% of Africans have yet to receive two doses of vaccine. A growing number of African heads of state and government no longer see Western countries as reliable partners.

Keywords: : Russia; invasion; Ukraine; Africa; famine; international trade; global power; food power; arms deals; fragile state; Islamist terrorism; Egypt; Morocco; Algeria; Tunisia; Libya; South Africa; Cameroon; Mozambique; Ethiopia; Kenya; Uganda; Somalia; Namibia; Nigeria; Sudan; energy security; China; EU; USA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E26 E31 F02 F13 F35 F51 F54 H56 N47 N57 N77 P26 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Will Putin's Ukraine war provoke famine and upheaval in Africa? (2022)
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