Africa held an important place in the Cold War. Hardly had the nations there freed themselves from colonial bondage than they were suddenly made into a battlefield. It was here that the United States and Russia, who did not dare fight on a Europe that had already shed so much blood, fought for supremacy. The Soviet Union tried to appeal to Africans as fellow revolutionaries and paraded capitalism as the enemy. However, the new leaders understood that the Soviet Union would merely absorb Africa into a new colonial empire. Kennedy, though, appealed to the Africans’ newfound taste for democracy. These conflicts met head-on in the Congo Crisis, and the clashes, unlike in much of the rest of the world, were bloody.
Ayrton Avery explains.
US President Richard Nixon meets President Mobutu Sese Seku of Zaire in 1973 in the White House.
Tempting Ideologies
As soon as Ghana achieved independence in 1957, the people were turning to socialism. Guinea, which was also led to independence the following year, followed suit. The Soviet Union viewed these countries as a gold mine. They found similarities between Russian and African history, and thought the subsequent implementation of communism was only logical. However, Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s president, viewed things differently. He preferred a version of socialism that emphasized pan-Africanism, though he admired Russia’s ideology of Marxism-Leninism. This became the reason that the Russians had to fight for Africa, using diplomacy or otherwise.
Much later, during the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974) in Angola, Kennedy was tempted to take the stand against the colonizers, probably because he feared Soviet influence in that region. Like the Russians, he tried to appeal to the Africans ideologically. He preached anti-communist and democracy, at one point even meeting with the Angolan politician Holden Roberto. However, Africans viewed the United States as a colonial power and Europeans feared the Angolans would still turn communist despite U.S. support. In the end, the U.S. also had to fight for Africa.
Cold War Not-So-Cold
Naturally, clashes made up the Cold War. The Cuban Missile Crisis, the U-2 Incident and others were ways the two powers tried to gain supremacy without resorting directly to the gun. However, this conflict was more than just political, it was also economic. The United States needed money to fund their own wars, while the Soviet Union itself was in an economic downgrade. The two nations saw Africa, rich in resources, as a source of funds and diplomatic superiority.
However, even with this, there was no genuine need for any wars in Africa to turn bloody. But, new African countries took Kwame Nkrumah’s (the first president of Ghana’s) lead in viewing the Soviets as a colonial power. These countries accepted money from both sides, all the while refusing to become allied with either. This, of course, pleased neither the Russians nor the Americans. Eventually, Americans got Guinea and Ghana more or less under their foot. But the Congo, which was a confused bag of warring factions in 1960, and also boasted Iron, Zinc, Copper and Tantalum, was even more tempting.
A Fight for Tantalum
In the Congo, no one was in power. Shortly after gaining its independence, a series of rebellions broke out between ethnic groups and those who supported the colonizers. At first, the United States blamed the socialist leader Lumumba for the fighting and refused to send forces at all. But then, the Soviets intervened in August 1960, setting the stage for yet another clandestine battlefield of the Cold War.
The United States put down the Communist secessionists, but soon new ones appeared, inspired by the Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Belgium and the United States intervened directly this time, realizing the threat. Bloody fighting began, provoked by Russia, China, the U.S., and Belgium, but eventually they crushed the Maoists as well, by the spring of 1965.
Although an authoritarian dictator was put in, ever since, the West, not the Soviet Union, have controlled the Congo and all its exports. The defeat also undermined Soviet influence in Africa, and resulted in most governments handing over power (indirectly) to the West. This was possibly one of the greatest factors that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russians lost huge amounts of revenue as African nations slammed the Russians for not providing better support to the rebels. It also did not help that now the U.N. was giving money to the Congo’s corrupted and authoritarian leadership. Once again, the West had won on a major battlefield of the cold war.
Conclusion
Of course, the violence did not end. The Cold War was not yet over. Russia tried, and succeeded somewhat, to gain control in Angola. But the victory was not enough. The West had tightened its grip on the continent far too tight. After the 70s, though, instability in the continent soared. The First Congo War broke out. Then there was the Rwandan genocide. And the Second Congo War broke, leading into the 21st century. Much of the Diamonds and tantalum are now being sold to Russian mercenaries. The West never truly won in Africa, just like in Korea. It was all an illusion. Both powers have rendered the continent more or less useless for their goals.
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References
Elizabeth, Schmidt. Foreign Intervention in Africa: From the Cold War to the War on Terror. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Brzezinski, Zbigniew. Africa and the Communist World. Stanford University Press, 1963.
Nkrumah, Kwame. Challenge of the Congo. International Publishers, 1967.
William Reno. Warfare in Independent Africa. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Elbaum, Max. Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che. Verso Books, 2002.
