Russian FM Sergei Lavrov to visit Morocco as part of second Africa tour  

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is currently on an Africa tour, which started in South Africa today and will include Morocco.

Lavrov will visit Eswatini, Botswana and Angola after South Africa, then he will then return to North Africa in February to visit Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania and Algeria. 

This would be the Russian FM’s second visit to the continent since the start of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, although the Kremlin has yet to issue an official statement announcing the visit.

That would amount to 12 countries plus the AU in just over six months, as Russia attempts to counter American hegemony on the continent, and gather support for the country’s conflict with neighboring Ukraine. 

On his July 2022 trip, Lavrov visited Egypt, Congo-Brazzaville, Uganda and Ethiopia, also meeting the African Union (AU) leadership in Addis Ababa.

Russia is attempting to mitigate the United States’ ongoing push for a more significant presence in the world’s second-largest continent, as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen began a 10-day visit this month, aimed at promoting economic opportunities between the US and Africa.

Yellen is the first administration official to visit the continent since President Joe Biden announced during the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in December that he plans to make a trip to the region this year, as will Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and a number of Cabinet secretaries.

More recently, the United States of America announced the visit of Michele Sison, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, to Algeria and Morocco, on January 21 and 26.

‌The office of the US State Department Spokesperson stated, in a statement obtained by Hespress AR, that the visit will discuss “common multilateral priorities across the United Nations system, with a focus on the importance of human rights, especially with the accession of Morocco and Algeria to the United Nations Human Rights Council.”

Moscow clearly wants to compete with Washington in its political influence, given that President Biden announced a review of American policy directed at Africa, all while attempting to turn African governments’ neutrality on the Russia-Ukraine conflict to its advantage.