The Czech Republic discreetly launched a major campaign on an overlooked continent

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At the beginning of April, the President of the Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, went to visit Zambia. “We are on our way to Zambia, an African country with which we want to deepen our cooperation,” https://twitter.com/Vystrcil_Milos/status/1777306182727704989 then on social network X.

In Zambia, Vystrčil met with President Hakaind Hichilema and at the ministries and supported the Czech businessmen who flew here with him.

The head of the Senate followed other leading Czech politicians who went to Africa in a short period of time. After all, in the last year alone, others – ministers Vít Rakušan and Jan Lipavský, Prime Minister Petr Fiala and President Petr Pavel – have made a trip to the long neglected continent. On the other hand, since last August, Angolan President João Lourenço, Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed have taken turns in Prague.

The goals of the Czech-African meetings are the same: to anchor Czech interests on the continent more firmly after many years of decline.

“We have historical ties to many states from the days of Czechoslovakia. It is certainly an advantage that we do not have a colonial past and also that there is a common history and cooperation, which in some countries dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. This creates a strong bond,” political geographer Bohumil Doboš from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the UK tells Seznam Zprávy.

The fact that the Czech Republic takes partnership with the countries of sub-Saharan Africa seriously was already indicated by the decision of the government, which less than two years ago approved the Strategy for the Czech Republic’s Action in Africa.

“The Czech Republic will focus on developing relations with Africa in sectors where we have high-quality know-how. It concerns, for example, security cooperation, the fight against terrorism, cyber security or strengthening the capacities of health systems. The Czech Republic also wants to support projects for the development of civil society and the observance of human rights, with an emphasis on the empowerment of women,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed at the time.

“Africa began to represent a priority not only for the Czech Republic, but also for the European Union in general, which realized that both continents relatively close to each other offer a lot of economic opportunities, but also many security threats can come from there,” explains Doboš.

It is not news that Europe, despite Czech representatives, is trying to create a counterweight to Russia and China in Africa (read more about the expansion of Chinese and Russian influence on the continent).

But at the same time, he also wants to get partners. “Africa is a major global player. It is in our interest to cooperate geopolitically, economically and security-wise with the countries there. In order to be able to promote our ideals of the rule of law and democracy in the UN, we need the support of African countries, of which 54 are represented in the General Assembly. The importance of Africa has also increased in the context of the geopolitical effects of Russian aggression towards Ukraine,” notes Daniel Drake, spokesman for Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský.

At the same time, experts point out that the position of the Czech Republic may be unique. “Czechoslovakia often supported national liberation movements, so the Czech Republic can counter Russia’s rhetoric that evil Europeans colonized them and they supported them. A lot of things there were not done by the Soviet Union, but by Czechoslovakia. We were very active there. For this reason alone, today’s visits are not perceived as imperial politics,” explains Doboš.

According to Tomáš Uličný, the ambassador to South Africa, the Czech Republic occupies a unique position. “We have to realize that Europe is perceived in Africa mainly through unpopular France. I think it would be different if an EU representative came to see them from the Czech Republic, or, for example, from Bulgaria or Romania,” he said recently in an interview for Seznam Zprávy.

How can Europe survive in Africa?

Not only international topics such as the war in Ukraine or possible gas supplies are topics for Czech leaders in Africa. Direct Czech interests are primarily at stake.

“Prime Minister Petr Fiala is working to ensure that our companies are successful even in regions that have been forgotten so far. That’s why he visited several Asian and African countries last year, as political support at the highest level is important here,” pointed out Prime Minister’s spokeswoman Lucie Ješátková.

Despite the more general statements of the Czech government regarding areas of interest, it is clear that one of the key sectors is the military and defense industry as well as arms contracts, although the Czech government does not emphasize this topic too much publicly.

Fiala, for example, announced last August that he would travel to several African countries after visiting the Sellier & Bellot munitions plant in Wallachia. “Our arms production is more than 90% dependent on exports, which is why the role of the state and the support of this type of export is important,” the Prime Minister pointed out, mentioning not only the economic importance, but also the strategic and security ones.

“The modernization of L-39 fighter jets carried out by Omnipol in Ethiopia is a good example. Flight simulators are also supplied and Czech technicians train local staff. Defense cooperation between the Czech Republic and Kenya is clearly visible at the National Defense College. In the past, for example, the Czech army helped with the training of the Kenyan armed forces. We also deliver military equipment to Ghana, where we also train pilots and other army personnel. We are also going to get L-39NG aircraft and assault rifles here,” adds Ješátková.

However, political geographer Doboš also points out that cooperation in the arms or military industry can represent thin ice in some – especially not fully democratic – countries.

“On the one hand, it is logical that the arms industry wants to expand to Africa, there is huge interest in that market and it can bring significant orders. It is also understandable that the Czech Republic and Europe are trying to maintain ties here, because otherwise they will be replaced by other actors, be it Russia, China or, in the future, perhaps India,” says the expert.

“However, in the case of Ethiopia, the crimes against humanity, the war crimes that took place in Tigray or Amhara, of course, cannot be separated from the army, and the importation of weapons will always be associated with it. The same applies to a certain extent in Rwanda and perhaps even the M23 militia in eastern Congo. So when we look at the government’s communication, cooperation is kept a little more in the background precisely because of these negative phenomena. How to set it up correctly, however, is terribly difficult to say,” he adds at the same time.

Petr Fiala in Africa

“If the prime minister (Petr Fiala) wants to emphasize the possible export of weapons, he can only export them where it does not pose unbearable security and human rights risks. That’s why it makes sense to go to these countries,” said Ondřej Horký-Hlucháň, an expert on Africa from the Institute of International Relations, in connection with the issue of the arms industry.

How problematic relations between the Czech Republic and Africa can be from a certain point of view was also shown by the recent trip of President Petr Pavel to Rwanda on the occasion of commemorating 30 years since the genocide.

The Czech president then met, among others, his counterpart Paul Kagame. At the same time, it remains an open secret in Rwandan society that in the 1990s it was Kagame’s ruling party that was behind the murders of thousands of mainly Hutu civilians both on the territory of Rwanda and in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to Africanist Ivana Sojková, Kagame himself is also problematic. “It is a highly repressive dictatorship and (in Kagame’s case) an aggressor with an excellently constructed story of an economic miracle in Africa and a victim of genocide,” she said some time ago for Seznam Zpravy (we covered the topic in this article).

Czech aid in Africa

However, according to leading Czech politicians, the priority is to deepen relations with African countries, including Rwanda. “In order for Africa to be stable and secure, it is necessary for the security forces of individual states to function well. Czech action in this area is in line with the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU. When exporting arms to Africa, we take into account both the foreign policy interests of the Czech Republic and ensure compliance with its international obligations, including sanctions regimes,” said spokesman Daniel Drake.

However, Czech activities on African soil are even more varied. “Czech companies build an airport in Senegal, build bridges in Ghana, export buses to the Ivory Coast, Czech non-governmental non-profit organizations are awarded for development projects across Africa,” sums up Drake.

Most Czech leaders appealed during their travels around the continent for domestic companies to penetrate African markets. At the same time, the fact that for many countries there, origin from the Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia) is still synonymous with quality and reliability plays into their hands.

In addition to politics and business, development aid traditionally belongs to the key aspects of relations on the African continent. So, for example, Jan Lipavský opened a new gynecological department in Lusaka with Czech equipment. Vít Rakušan, on the other hand, gave a donation of several million to the Senegalese hospital.