[OPINION] – Aid Cuts to Africa Linked to Ukraine War Silence

Africa’s Ukraine Neutrality: When Sitting on the Fence Gets You Cut Off

It is not every day you see a continent trying to stay so still that even a chess pawn looks bold. But when Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council turned warmongering rogue, launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, much of Africa decided to meditate.

While Kyiv was being shelled and civilian apartment blocks lit up like unwanted Christmas trees, many African leaders responded with the sort of stoic silence that would make a monk blush. No condemnation. No support. Just diplomatic yoga poses labelled “neutrality.”

Neutrality in the face of unprovoked aggression isn’t really neutrality. It is indifference dressed in a suit. And in global politics, silence can be louder than screams.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine has involved mass war crimes, deliberate targeting of civilians and sham referendums in occupied territories, standard practice from the Kremlin’s manual of mayhem. Yet when the UN General Assembly voted in October 2022 to condemn Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian regions, 26 African countries either abstained or didn’t show up.

Imagine standing in front of a burning house and instead of calling for help, you sip tea and say, “Well, both sides should talk.” That is not diplomacy. It is wilful blindness.

And now, the West is beginning to lose patience. The UK, citing increased defence spending (and possibly frustration), has cut its foreign aid budget by 40%, dropping from 0.5% to 0.3% of its Gross National Income. According to the UK Foreign Office, the deepest slashes will hit Africa. Women’s health cut. Children’s education cut. Clean water and sanitation also cut because neutrality doesn’t keep the taps running.

It is not like Africa didn’t benefit from these funds. Programmes in South Sudan, Sierra Leone, and the DRC funded by British taxpayers were helping get children into school, girls into clinics and clean water into communities. But those benefits are now drying up, along with patience in London, Washington and Brussels.

UNICEF UK labelled the cuts “deeply short sighted” and warned of a “devastating impact” on women and children. Street Child, a British charity, said education efforts in the region will stall or collapse. But alas, foreign aid is not an eternal spring. It is a relationship, and like any relationship, when one partner keeps quiet while the other is getting punched in the face, trust runs out.

The Kremlin has not exactly been shy in Africa. From Wagner mercenaries running riot in Mali and the Central African Republic, to Russian diplomats peddling “anti-Western” narratives in state run media like RT and Sputnik Africa, Putin has treated the continent as a propaganda playground.

Russia offers guns and grain, the West offers aid and partnership. And when Africa flirted with the former while giving the latter the silent treatment, the message was heard loud and clear.

“We are not picking sides… unless it’s a good arms deal.”

Of course, African leaders have their reasons including historical ties, anti-colonial rhetoric and distrust of Western double standards. But there is a difference between strategic non alignment and convenient indifference. When Russia bombs hospitals and kidnaps Ukrainian children (a war crime, per the International Criminal Court), “neutrality” becomes complicity lite.

Now, with UK aid flowing more towards Ukraine, and the US turning the screws on allies who won’t trade with America, Africa is learning the old truth. Silence has a cost. Or as they say in the marketplace, “You don’t dance at a wedding and then complain you were not fed.”

This is not to say Africa doesn’t deserve support. Far from it. But in a world where geopolitics is increasingly black and white between autocracies and democracies, invaders and defenders, trying to stay grey just gets you washed out.

If Africa wants to keep its seat at the aid table, it might need to speak up the next time a tank rolls over a border and pretends it is peacekeeping. Sitting on the fence only works until someone kicks it down and right now, the West seems to be reaching for its boots.