Kostic: Serbia’s foreign policy offensive in Africa, fight for new de-recognitions of Kosovo

Mijat Kostic, a fellow at the New Third Way, assessed that Serbia is engaged in a kind of “foreign policy offensive” and that both the recent visit to the United States and the “African tour” of Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric should be viewed in that context.

“This should be seen as an offensive diplomatic approach and a move by Serbia to prevent further recognitions of Kosovo or perhaps persuade some countries to withdraw their recognition,” Kostic said.

Commenting on Djuric’s visit to the sub-Saharan African countries of Ghana and Benin, Kostic said it is important to continue bilateral cooperation with these states.

“Especially since Serbia can offer them infrastructure projects and investments, as well as cooperation in the defense industry. From these economic and political interests, these countries can become an additional asset for Serbia’s foreign policy interests, particularly for outvoting Kosovo in certain international organizations such as Interpol. This should be seen as a form of foreign policy offensive that has become proactive in recent years compared to the earlier period of stagnation,” Kostic stressed.

He emphasized that in the current geopolitical turbulence, the African continent is of key importance for Serbia.

“At a time when major powers are once again playing realpolitik, partnerships with African countries are of crucial importance for Serbia. Not only because many of these countries are worth one vote each in the UN General Assembly, but also because of tradition. Serbia is the legal successor of Yugoslavia, which relied on the Non-Aligned Movement as perhaps its main foreign policy asset. That is why I see Djuric’s visit to sub-Saharan African countries as an attempt to revitalize those relations from the Non-Aligned era,” Kostic said.

Cooperation with African countries is not only diplomatic and economic but also security-related, the analyst explained.

“Djuric also invited the presidents of those countries to come to this year’s arms fair in Belgrade, which means a continuation of the Yugoslav-era tradition, cooperation in the defense industry. Exports to sub-Saharan African countries will likely remain a priority in the coming years,” he explained.

He noted that African countries are in a specific position due to their history and, because of that, they understand Serbia’s problems.

“African countries are in a unique position, especially since they themselves emerged from post-colonial struggles for independence, and particularly since many are states where there are numerous civil wars and various movements for secession. Take, for example, Sudan and South Sudan,” Kostic said.

He added that another important aspect of Djuric’s visit to Africa is the fact that at the beginning of this year, two countries from the continent recognized Kosovo.

“What may have actually prompted Marko Djuric’s tour is Kosovo’s diplomatic offensive that preceded it in March and April of this year. We recall that at that time Kenya and Sudan recognized Kosovo,” Kostic concluded.