In the October issue of the journal, the first part of the dialogue between the famous African scholar, Doctor of Political Sciences L. V. Geweling and Internet users was published.

Today we are completing the publication of this conversation and inform readers that Leonid Vladimirovich expressed his readiness to answer any other questions about Africa, if you send them to our magazine.

COLONIALISM IS GONE, PROBLEMS REMAIN

Ivan:

- How stable is the current situation in Algeria? Has the Islamist resistance subsided or continued? How safe are tourist trips there?

- I would strongly advise tourists not to visit those African countries where religious conflicts have not yet been resolved. Of course, everything may go well, but the tourist may not be lucky. In a sense, the situation in Algeria has improved, but still this country is still among the problematic ones. If you are interested in the role of Islam in the political and everyday life of Algeria (and, by the way, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco), I recommend reading the recently published book "Political Islam in North Africa"by well-known Arab scholars M. Vidyasova and V. Orlov. Another book on this topic, about the metamorphosis of political power in modern Africa, is due out soon.

- Is there still a white population in Zimbabwe, and what are the prospects for the development of this country? After all, I have heard that agriculture, which was developed mainly thanks to white farmers, fell into complete decline after Mugabe's reforms.

- Zimbabwe's white community has declined dramatically, even though it was once one of the largest and most prosperous in Africa. Large local farmers were almost entirely white. Under Mugabe, the situation has changed dramatically. Many so-called European areas were settled by Africans. The country is currently in a deep crisis. And both economically and politically. For a long time, the leading political forces did not demonstrate their readiness for consensus and were in no hurry to give in to each other. However, recently, under pressure from internal and external forces, the Mugabe group and the opposition have been trying to reach an agreement. However, it is difficult to say when this process will end.

- How serious is the problem of tribalism for African countries? Will they be able to develop successfully at all, as long as they live within the borders defined at one time by European powers, without taking into account the borders of the tribes ' habitation?

- The borders established by Europeans were not the most successful experience in creating a political map of Africa. Tribalism on the continent, in the sense in which it existed 100 years ago, of course, no longer exists. However, the role and place of the tribe in the life of the African "hinterland" is still great. Tribal leaders and other traditional rulers play an extremely important role at the local government level, are involved in setting local policies and influence the economic life of regions in many African States.

Employees of the Russian Embassy in Nigeria:

- Our question concerns the difficult situation in the Niger Delta region, where gangs in southern Nigeria have turned the abduction of foreigners into a lucrative business. Only relatively recently was it possible to release two Russians who had been held captive for about eight weeks. It is clear that the country's authorities are struggling to solve this problem, which seriously hinders the flow of investment. But is it possible in principle to solve it?

- The situation in the Niger Delta has been extremely tense for many decades. As early as the nineteenth century, there were fleets of war canoes that were difficult to find and disarm, even for units of the regular British army. Over the past 10 to 20 years, groups have become more active there, some of which are in favor of gaining political independence, some of which are in favor of fair redistribution of oil revenues, and some of which are in favor of improving the environmental situation. The latter problem is not without relevance, since oil companies often allow oil emissions, polluting the environment. As a result, fish leave the channels and branches of the delta, which causes anger among the local population. At the same time, many pseudo-revolutionaries have settled in the Niger Delta, who, under the banner of political struggle, are engaged in kidnapping for ransom and outright robbery. In short, this area of Southern Nigeria, known for its oil fields, has a very diverse audience.

It is not easy for employees of large foreign companies who become the main targets of kidnappings by local militants. Hundreds of Nigerians themselves, as well as Americans, British, Indians, and others, suffered from their bandit actions.

* Ending. For the beginning, see: "Asia and Africa Today", 2010, N 10.

recently, as we know, so have our compatriots.

Of course, this problem needs to be solved. I am not sure that the introduction of regular Nigerian army forces there can have a positive effect. This is difficult terrain, where it will be difficult for the army to operate. The establishment of a strict police regime there can hardly be considered acceptable. Methods of conflict resolution must be carefully thought out and cannot be exclusively forceful. I believe that the federal Government of Nigeria and the state government should negotiate with the rebels, if not for peace (which seems unlikely at the moment), then at least for a lasting truce.

I am happy to extend my greetings to the staff of the Russian Embassy in Nigeria and sincerely wish them not to be among the victims of Nigerian militants and gangsters.

Vasiliy:

- Do you think it is possible to create an "Afrosoyuz"?

- The African Union (AU) has already been established. In 2009, it was headed by Muammar Gaddafi, and at the end of January 2010, he was replaced by President Binguwa Mugarika of Malawi. It was he who raised the issue of creating the United States of Africa , an organization more cohesive than the AU. It was actually about a "pan-African state".

Strictly speaking, this question is not new - it was raised at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s by the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, who suggested that African leaders should give up part of their sovereignty in favor of a "United States of Africa" - a hypothetical state that would resist colonialism and neo-colonialism, and also promote the unification of African countries. This, by the way, would also solve the problem of incorrectly drawn state borders.

Nkrumah's idea reflected a romantic vision of the social development prospects of Africa. As might be expected, it did not materialize, despite the popularity of pan-African sentiment, which, however, lost its appeal over time. I think this idea is premature. It is no coincidence that many countries on the continent reacted coldly to the plans for the establishment of the United States of Africa.

Z. (Ulan-Ude):

- I am writing to you from Africa (Botswana), where I have been working for almost two years. I am very concerned about the cholera epidemic in neighboring Zimbabwe. What real steps does the international community intend to take to solve the problem?

- Africa has always been "famous" for the presence of dangerous and poorly understood diseases. Recently, the process of their distribution has noticeably intensified. First of all, mention should be made of malaria, cholera, AIDS, Ebola, and polio. There was an outbreak of tuberculosis in several districts. Islamic religious figures have repeatedly been blamed for the spread of polio - they say they prevented vaccinations, which is why the disease has developed rapidly.

Diseases have long been known to accompany economic and political crises-phenomena that shake Africa almost continuously. And the opportunities of the international community here are extremely limited. To curb diseases, we need investments, we need to expand the capabilities of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors Without Borders, as well as those States that are able to supply medicines, vaccinate, operate field hospitals, and send medical personnel to hospitals in African countries. If you ignore the spread of dangerous diseases in Africa (for example, the AIDS pandemic), it can lead to an extremely large-scale humanitarian catastrophe, which is likely to spread to other continents.

Alexey:

- I really want to make a trip to Central Africa. What countries would you recommend visiting in terms of security, high-quality tourist infrastructure, etc.?

Vladimir:

- What is the average ratio of indigenous Central Africans to European tourists? An employee of one of the travel agencies pretty much scared me, telling me that it was not safe to travel alone (outside the group) and generally stay in Central African countries.

- I strongly advise you to go only to quiet African countries and always through reputable travel agencies, preferably with experience in Africa. Traveling is really better as a group. Every African country has natural, historical and cultural sites that any tourist will be happy to see. In almost all countries of the continent, especially in its sub-Saharan part, the attitude towards Russians is good. For a voyage, the islands in the Gulf of Guinea are more suitable. Of course-Tanzania and Kenya. It is better to go to countries where the infrastructure of the tourist industry is well developed (although it is very far from South Africa, Tunisia or Morocco in this respect almost everywhere) and where the situation is more relaxed. But I warn you: almost everywhere in Central Africa, no one is immune from dangerous "surprises".

Jan:

- To what extent do the world's leading countries, primarily Western and developed Asian ones, depend economically on Africa? Which African countries are they most interested in working with and why? Can we speak of a "renaissance" of neocolonialism in this connection?

- African countries are an important object of economic cooperation and a rich source of raw materials for the economies of America, Europe, China, India, and Russia. Coffee, tea, cocoa, tropical fruits, spices - all this is in demand everywhere. I'm not even talking about fossils. Therefore

African countries are widely given increased attention, and sometimes states in different parts of the world try to use them in far from disinterested interests. During the cold war, we believed that Africa was an object of neo-colonialism imposed by imperialist countries and multinational corporations. Later, they began to talk not even about neocolonialism, but about new colonialism. Experts from Europe and America even put forward the following thesis: since there is chaos and crisis in Africa, maybe Africans do not need freedom and sovereignty? After all, when there were colonies and metropolises and African countries were governed from London, Paris and Lisbon, they all developed more or less normally.

I think that the time of colonialism is irrevocably gone, and it is unwise to reanimate it in any form. As for" classical neocolonialism " (as it was understood in the USSR in the 60s and 70s of the last century), nobody really needs it either. But new forms of economic dependence on the leading Western, and possibly some eastern states, may well appear and develop.

V.:

- Is there any general concept of further development and strengthening of the sovereignty of States in Africa? Why did the socialist doctrine, unlike, say, Latin America, not take root on this continent?

- The movement towards sovereignty, generally speaking, has always been two-way. On the one hand, the Africans fought for it. On the other hand, neither the French nor the British objected to the declaration of sovereignty in principle. They understood that it was impossible to keep vast territories in the status of colonies indefinitely. The metropolises were not going to make "little France" and "little England" out of them - they simply could not do it. Therefore, the prevailing view was that the colonies should lay the foundation of a democratic state-legal structure (in the image and likeness of Great Britain and France), and then "let go". When they left their colonies, both Paris and London hoped to interact with them using economic methods rather than administrative ones.

But just 6 to 7 years after 1960, called the "year of Africa", when almost all African countries declared independence, a wave of military coups swept across the continent. Local critics began to seriously wonder: was it really necessary to rush into sovereignty? After all, it was after the declaration of independence that corruption became widespread in African countries, serious problems with the economy began, and where the military seized power, the foundations of democracy were destroyed. But, despite the fact that there was a fair amount of truth in this criticism, procrastination with the declaration of sovereignty would hardly have made any sense.

The emergence of a group of countries with a socialist orientation in Africa was not a consequence of the spread of Marxist-Leninist ideas on the continent, but rather one of the results of the global confrontation between imperialism and socialism. As early as the 1960s, Africa became the scene of a struggle between the two main centers of world politics. The allies of the USSR in this struggle at various times were Tanzania, Somalia, Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of its political, economic, and military assistance resulted in the rejection of the concept of scientific socialism by most African countries, although the ideas of "African socialism" have not lost their popularity.

arif:

- Why can't even powers like the United States and Russia end piracy in the Strait of Aden?

"If the pirates were easy to exterminate, it would have been done two or three thousand years ago. By the way, piracy is not only a problem in Somalia. Take the opposite side of Africa - the Gulf of Guinea. There are Nigerian pirates and coastal robbers operating there. They attack ships lying in the roadstead or in ports. Piracy has never stopped off the coast of Indonesia, as, indeed, in a number of other parts of the world's oceans.

As for Somalia, it is a country with a very long coastline, which is in a state of complete political and economic chaos. Western political scientists call such states "failed " or"collapsed." In Somalia, robbery and piracy are the main, if not the only, means of survival. Local pirates have agents in many countries far away from Somalia. From there, they receive information about the movement of ships, as well as technical and military equipment. In the opposite direction, probably part of the looted loot is transported.

What can you do against pirates? There is only one way - to organize a joint, well-coordinated struggle of States interested in normal navigation. Of course, this is an expensive pleasure. It is necessary to ensure control over the huge coastline and water area. Because pirates operate at lightning speed, using small, fast vessels, you need to keep a fleet of warships off the coast of Somalia. Another way is to try to change the situation in the country itself, establish good relations with coastal residents, and offer them an alternative to sea robbery.

This suggests a comparison with the production of opium poppies. You can spray herbicides over fields of opium poppies, burn them with napalm, and fire at the caravans that transport them. Or you can try to negotiate with farmers who grow poppies, to help them switch to the cultivation of legal crops. It's the same with Somalia. While this country is in a state of chaos, it will be extremely difficult to defeat pirates, even with the forces of such powers as Russia and the United States.

Vladimir:

- Do not the leading Western countries provoke constant tension in many states

Africa, trying to "fish in muddy waters"? After all, in an environment of general instability, it is easier to solve a variety of political tasks.

- The situation with "controlled tension" on the African continent is a political game technique that is used from time to time by former metropolises and some other countries. Elements of veiled military involvement occasionally make themselves felt in the African politics of individual Powers. It is no coincidence that the Americans created a special African command, AFRICOM, as part of the leadership of their armed forces.

The Africans were unenthusiastic, realizing that America intended to control the entire continent.

At the same time, developed countries are fundamentally interested in ensuring that Africa does not plunge into the abyss of uncontrolled natural conflicts and wars. After all, in this case, the continent can turn into a source of global concern and pose a threat to all States. In addition, the capitals of the leading powers are well aware that the main costs of overcoming these troubles will have to be borne by international organizations and all the same developed countries. From the point of view of Western politicians, Africa should not be a source of danger, but a place of production of mineral and agricultural raw materials-nothing more.

Victor:

- Which African country is the most interesting for Russia as an object of economic cooperation?

- If Russia wants to remain a great power, it must be present in Africa. The withdrawal of our country from the Black Continent in the 1990s and the abandonment of its previously won social, economic and political positions was a serious mistake. Russia, like Africa , is the largest producer of oil, gas, gold, and diamonds. This means that the Russian Federation and African countries can coordinate their economic policies approximately in the same way as OPEC members do.

Russia should promote its products more actively in the African markets. Their range is small, but almost all of them would be suitable for African consumers. However, we need to make some efforts to do this - establish joint chambers of commerce and industry, lay sea and aviation lines, review legislation, and work closely to promote the African direction among Russian businessmen, state and private companies. There is a very wide field of activity here.

Mikhail Safin:

- What geopolitical goals can Russia pursue in Africa? Which countries of the continent are of the greatest geopolitical interest to us? How and in what areas should cooperation with these countries develop so that Russia can achieve its goals in this region?

- At various times, we focused on Egypt and Algeria, then-on Ethiopia and South Africa... But, from my point of view, a good foreign policy is one that does not perpetuate the privileged position of a single foreign state. We need to rely on several countries. One way or another, the leading counterparties of the Russian Federation should remain countries that are leading in their regions - Egypt, DR Congo, South Africa, and Nigeria. In the future, this circle may expand.

True, Russia's current economic contacts with such large states as South Africa and Nigeria are quite scanty. Suffice it to say that in 2008, before the crisis, South Africa accounted for only 0.1% of the Russian Federation's trade turnover. And the share of Egypt, a traditional trading partner of the USSR and later Russia, in the foreign trade turnover of the Russian Federation was only 0.3% and, by the way, had a downward trend. There is nothing to say about the rest of the African countries...

Meanwhile, experience shows that Russia can implement very serious projects in African countries. For example, the construction of oil pipelines, large industrial plants, and power plants. Russian businesses-LUKOIL, Gazprom and some other companies-show a timid but steady interest in Africa. In the field of view of domestic entrepreneurs are the diamond, gold mining, oil and gas industry, metallurgy, trade. Now it is important that our state plays the role of a kind of economic coordinator, which would ensure the broad penetration of Russian capital into Africa.

If we, according to the good Russian tradition, postpone the expansion of economic ties with the countries of this region "for later", wait a couple of years, then we can forget about Africa as a business partner. There will be the United States, former metropolises and China, and there will be no place left for Russia...

St2:

- Don't you think that there is a real information vacuum around Africa right now? For many people, Africa is either Somali pirates or the World Cup in a prosperous South Africa? Many, for example, cannot answer the questions: why are there so many poor people on this continent rich in various natural resources, will Africa ever get out of a series of wars and conflicts, or, for example, who is Nelson Mandela for Africans-a hero or not?

"Fortunately, that vacuum seems to be breaking down now. Indeed, for many years in the Soviet Union and Russia, all the knowledge about Africa fit into the lines of a nursery rhyme: "Don't go for a walk in Africa, children. There are gorillas in Africa, angry crocodiles..."

Of course, Africa deserves to be known more about it here. African studies scientists from the Institute of Asian and African Studies (ISAA)are working on this issue Moscow State University, the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University (SPbU), and some other reputable research organizations. In Russia, magazines are published that constantly publish articles, reports, and various materials about Africa. These are "Asia and Africa Today", "East" and

others that more or less regularly offer readers political, economic, and cultural information about Africa.

As for Nelson Mandela, he is treated as a hero in both African and many non-African countries.

Oleg Olegovich:

- Where and how can you get acquainted with traditional African art in Russia?

- This is a very good question, which shows the breadth of Russian interests in the Black Continent. If there are people who are interested in African art, then there are many who would like to know about other aspects of the life of African peoples.

Even 100 years ago, it was believed that the Africans (the ancient Egyptians, of course, do not count) do not have their own history, and their material and even more spiritual culture is extremely primitive. This, of course, is not the case. All over the world, Africa is famous for its masks, figurines, small plastics, embroidery. The products of its craftsmen, made of stone, wood, terracotta, textiles, and metals, are of great interest. Some of these products may well be considered world-class masterpieces. In this regard, I strongly recommend reading the novel "Pure Gold does not happen" by Alexey Skorbiashev. Against the background of a fascinating detective story, it expertly describes the unique products of ancient and modern African masters made of gold, ivory, and bronze.

African culture has long permeated Western Europe, South and North America, and Russia too. Some of the African masterpieces can be found in Moscow at the State Museum of Oriental Art , which has an "African Collection" of material culture objects. In St. Petersburg, the Kunstkamera also houses and exhibits beautiful African masks, musical instruments, and weapons. Of particular interest is the famous Beninese bronze - medieval products that were created in the West African state of Benin. Many of them were stolen by European adventurers decades ago, and then sold at antique auctions for tens and hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling.

In addition, Africa is a wonderful literature, fairy tales and legends, poems and novels written in European and local languages. Original films are shot here, which sometimes, although extremely rarely, make their way to the Russian screen. There is also African music, cuisine in its various national variants, African hairstyles, African clothing...

The African theme can be continued indefinitely. If I have managed to answer at least some of the questions of those readers who are not indifferent to the problems of Africa, and at least a little interest in these problems for the rest of the audience, then I believe that I have fulfilled my task.

Prepared for publication by N. PETROV

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