AU chief calls for ‘positive competition’ from Europe in bid to counter China’s growing clout

As African leaders converged on Germany’s capital earlier this week to attend the G20 ‘Compact for Africa’ meeting, the African Union (AU) chief called for “positive competition” from Europe in the continent, which would be more welcome than its criticism of Chinese investments for saddling poor countries with huge debts.
While addressing the high-level meeting of the G20 initiative in Berlin, AU chairman Azali Assoumani said there was “a high demand in African states,” and “sometimes we take on debt in less than ideal conditions.” However the AU chief continued by assuring the audience that “everything is changing… we are trying to correct mistakes,” in a tacit reference to China, which has been pouring huge investments into the continent in recent years, helping fund projects from railways to ports. There was a need for “positive competition”. There is no monopoly anywhere… Everyone has a place,” he said. The ‘Compact for Africa’ that brings together the G20 and 13 African countries, with support from organizations including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, aims to mobilize more private, sustainable investments in African countries.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed that the European Union and particularly Germany want to intensify cooperation with the resource-rich continent, as European leaders attending the G20-led summit vied for Africa’s “hearts and minds”. But with China having been pursuing its business interests in Africa for decades and countries such as Russia and Turkey also jostling for influence, “this Compact with Africa is a decade behind, that is the truth,” Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s newly elected president, told the audience in Berlin. While welcoming Scholz’s praise of Africa’s potential and his call for investment, an African diplomat who did not wish to be identified also added that “at the moment Europe needs Africa more than Africa needs Europe.”