A recently signed military cooperation agreement between Russia and São Tomé and Príncipe went into effect this month as the two nations seek to jointly tackle regional and global security threats.
The “indefinite” agreement has the two sides cooperating in the fields of troop training, recruitment of armed forces, use of weapons and military equipment, logistics, information exchange, and participation in military exercises. Signed in St Petersburg on 24 April, it went into effect on 5 May.
São Tomé and Príncipe is not the only African nation Russia has sought stronger ties with on defence. Fellow African Portuguese-speaking country Guinea-Bissau, for example, signed its own military cooperation agreement back in 2019 and enjoys amicable relations with Moscow. President Umaro Sissoco Embalo visited the Russian capital recently.
[See more: Petrobras returns to Africa with São Tomé deal]
São Tomé and Príncipe’s new agreement with Russia, however, is not without controversy. Opposition leader Jorge Bom Jesus decried the secrecy surrounding the agreement and said that it should not have been carried out without the knowledge of parliament.
Long-time US ally, NATO member and former colonial power Portugal was predictably dismayed by the news, expressing “surprise” and “apprehension” over the military cooperation agreement. São Toméan Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada said Lisbon had “no reason to be concerned,” characterising the Moscow pact as “normal” and “customary.”
Washington and its allies are making belated efforts to gain influence in Africa, where they have ceded much diplomatic ground to Western rivals Moscow and Beijing. At stake behind much of the manoeuvring is the desperate scramble for critical raw materials and other valuable resources needed for the global technology and green energy industries.
