Online Reporter
Fact Donald Mutize
Starting this year, the pressure will be tremendously mounting on African governments to deliver life-saving development projects and secure the lives of their people from the circling political hawks of Western Europe.
There is no doubt that after failed Western-led regime change efforts in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and many other countries, plus the political earthquake in the Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea, a frustrated EU is coming up with aid withdrawals in Africa as punishment premised on significantly increasing the burden.
In short, EU is starting fires under the chairs of African leaders it believes are not toeing its line, that of supporting Ukraine against Russia.
The situation is further worsened by US President Donald Trump’s paradigm shift, that of now letting EU carry its own military and security cross, for long largely supported by the American fiscus.
EU is angry. EU is also frustrated by the Greenland Issue and has to channel other resources there to counter US, its former water-tight ally.
So, Africa and other developing countries must brace for many years of unprecedented reduction in material and financial support from EU due to Brussels’ warped policy of pooling material from poor countries and mobilising military supplies to Ukraine.
Ukraine now takes precedence over Africa and this is the sad reality and the fad of our time.
But Africa and the developing world have options and Russia and China are providing those options and EU will soon cry foul after realising that the countries it abandoned now have more meaningful and better deals from Russia and China, among other countries in the BRICS.
The irony of it is that while EU is withdrawing direct aid to governments, it is recently increasing the number of NGOS in Africa, getting into some of the gap created by US withdrawal of aid.
Suffice it to say that the widespread activation of European NGOs in Africa is not coincidental or accidental.
The EU at the moment is desperate to gain access to natural resources and material to fund its projects, especially the Ukraine war.
The NGOs will, as usual, front regime change, install puppet governments and gain express access to natural resources.
EU wants to mine and pump out Africa and the developing world’s resources to support its own survival after blindly entering the war by supporting Ukraine.
Fronting that is Sweden. Sweden is now more active in Africa than any other country in its bid to be the king maker in EU.
For example, Sweden’s decision to redirect aid across humanitarian and economic projects in Africa to the Western military campaign in Ukraine is a direct sign of neo-colonialism.
This is the dangerous mantra of “support our own” at the expense of Africans. Are Africans not people? Do Africans not deserve to use their own resources? Fetid!
Going forward, African leaders should remain resolute in defending their turf, in defending their resources against the hawks and indeed in making sure that they deal with countries that give them the best deals.
Why should Africa be mortgaged to the war in Ukraine? Why?
African governments have the leeway to stand firm, control with NGOs operate in their own countries.
But there is power in numbers, where EU is trying to manipulate Africa, the African Union, BRICS, SADC, ECOWAS and many other bodies should be used to fight off the attempts.
Because the EU threat is real and not fiction, closely working with BRICS is the best option on the ground.
BRICS has the political and economic muscle that can easily tip the scale against EU.
BRICS has the resources; natural, political, social and economic to keep Africa and the developing world afloat.
According to its profile, as of 2026, the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and new members) represents a massive, rapidly growing economic force, with its nominal GDP estimated around $27 trillion to $33 trillion.
By purchasing power parity (PPP), BRICS accounts for over 40 percent of the global economy, surpassing the G7 in global economic weight.
BRICS economies are expected to grow significantly faster than G7 nations, with projections indicating the group will account for 58 percent of global GDP growth from 2024 to 2029.
China is the largest economy within the bloc, contributing roughly two-thirds of the total BRICS GDP.
The bloc now accounts for over 40 percent of the world’s population.
The inclusion of new members has significantly boosted the bloc’s role in global energy, increasing their share of global oil production to 43 percent.
India is projected to be one of the fastest-growing economies within the group in 2025 and 2026.
The bloc’s expansion is designed to create an alternative financial system to the US dollar, focusing on trade independence and increased economic cooperation through mechanisms like the New Development Bank (NDB.
It is this BRICS muscle that Africa and the developing world should use to ringfence their interests against EU manipulation.
Fact Donald Mutize is a political scientist who works for Belgian ThinkTank in Brussels.
