The Diplomat
Spain yesterday warned NATO that the war in Ukraine should not make it forget the challenge coming from Africa, where Russia’s expansion is growing and jihadist terrorism is gaining ground.
Both Robles and the Chief of Defence Staff (JEMAD), Admiral General Teodoro López Calderón, took advantage of their speech to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which is meeting until Monday in Madrid, to focus on the situation in the Sahel, reports Europa Press.
In June, Spain had already pushed for the importance of the Alliance’s southern flank to be reflected in the Strategic Concept that came out of the Madrid Summit, which included the need to offer a “360-degree” vision of security and defence.
On Saturday, Robles warned that Russia “is finding a perfect extension field” in Africa, either directly through its army or through the private company Wagner. “Any vacuum left by Europe or NATO in Africa is being perfectly exploited by Russia,” he warned.
“Russia is invading Ukraine, but it is spreading into Africa and we all have to be aware of that,” she insisted, before representatives of the 30 parliaments of the allied countries, as well as those of other partner nations.
The JEMAD also stressed that Africa has become an area of “geostrategic competition”. He said that Russia’s growing influence in the region is increasing its “destabilisation” and reinforcing the fact that African countries are dominated by political systems based on coups d’état, as well as the expansion of terrorism and an increase in other criminal activities such as human and arms trafficking.
“Our government’s vision is to try to avoid these gaps which, once they are left, are penetrated and taken over by these forces,” he said, alluding to Russia, recalling that it is also taking control of the exploitation of these countries’ natural resources.
This call coincides with the withdrawal of the European Union’s military mission in Mali, which has been “suspended” for months and will reduce its presence to a maximum of 300 soldiers before the end of the year.
For the time being, Spain has defended the need to maintain a presence in Mali, and currently maintains a deployment of 360 troops – the largest in the mission – while other countries are announcing their withdrawal.
Robles did not let her speech to the NATO parliamentarians pass without mentioning the “failure” of the withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of presence in the country, and she used it as an example of the need to contribute to the country’s development beyond the military presence.
The minister called for “lessons to be learned” from Afghanistan, where she stressed that, after 20 years of NATO presence, women and girls are in a very bad situation “without access to education or certain jobs”.
“This has to lead us to raise our visions and make us see that military presence is important but also to create scenarios so that a country can develop according to the democratic values and principles that NATO develops,” she said.
