Abstract
The story of Brazil as a contemporary security actor in Africa can prove a peculiar one. Marked by quick gains and an equally quick recognition over a short period of time, it has also been followed by an equally quick turnaround which has led, as of 2020, to a visible disengagement on the ground. We explore the main travails in this domain, which have compromised much of the gains previously obtained throughout the continent. The chapter begins with a general balance of the progress achieved between 2003 and 2016, followed by the highlights of the recent downturn. We then analyze a specific sub-area, namely, the inroads carried out at the defence industry level, in order to showcase the promises and contradictions often associated to what the country has offered across the Atlantic. We conclude by presenting some opportunities for a new pickup of Brazilian interest in the middle and long run.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The chapter benefits from access to diplomatic communication exchanged between the Secretary General of Foreign Affairs (SERE – Secretaria de Estado das Relações Exteriores) within the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and different Brazilian diplomatic representations in Africa, as well as official documentation produced by the Brazilian Ministry of Defence.
- 2.
Circular cable 73076, date: 08/07/2009.
- 3.
Circular cable 72303, date: 12/05/2009.
- 4.
As Defence Minister, Amorim visited Morocco, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and the DRC. Information provided by the Brazilian Ministry of Defence.
- 5.
Telegram 321 from BRASEMB ACCRA to SERE, date: 25/07/2012.
- 6.
The mandate of Brazil’s defence attaché in Nigeria covers Ghana, while attachés in Senegal and Angola are responsible for Togo and Benin and São Tomé and Príncipe, respectively. Other specific arrangements include Morocco falling under the purview of the Brazilian defence attaché in Spain.
- 7.
Telegram 621 from BRASEMB ABUJA to SERE, date: 13/10/2011.
- 8.
In this case, when Brazil purchased the three OPV from a UK-based shipyard, it also purchased the building plants and the intellectual property rights to build similar ships and hence regular goodwill trips through several potential African buyers. Telegram 159 from BRASEMB ACCRA to SERE, date: 12/04/2013.
- 9.
Official Message 244 from Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Brazilian Ministry of Defence, date: 06/04/2009.
- 10.
Telegram 52 from BRASEMB ACCRA to SERE, date: 05/02/2015.
- 11.
Telegram 615 from BRASEMB LUANDA to SERE, date: 27/05/2008.
- 12.
Telegram 392 from BRASEMB LIBREVILLE to SERE, date: 03/12/2013.
- 13.
Document 3167/SCO3/SCAI/CAE/EMCFA-MD, date: 19 /03/2013.
- 14.
Telegram 1340 from BRASEMB LUANDA to SERE, date: 31/07/2009.
- 15.
Telegram 104 from BRASEMB MALABO to SERE, date: 05/10/2009.
- 16.
Official Message 890 from Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Brazilian Ministry of Defence, date: 23/09/2015.
- 17.
Telegram 122 from BRASEMB LIBREVILLE, date: 01/06/2007.
- 18.
Telegram 231 from BRASEMB DAR ES SALAM to SERE, date: 15/06/2015.
- 19.
Telegraphic dispatch 49 to BRASEMB ABUJA, date: 22/05/2018; Telegram 176 from BRASEMB ABUJA to SERE, date: 05/07/2018; Telegram 280 from BRASEMB ABUJA to SERE, date: 16/10/2018.
- 20.
Telegram 270 from BRASEMB LUANDA to SERE, date: 21/02/2013.
- 21.
Telegram 1203 from BRASEMB PRETORIA to SERE, date: 25/10/2011.
- 22.
Official Message 146 from Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Brazilian Ministry of Defence, date: 05/03/2009.
- 23.
Telegram 273 from BRASEMB ACCRA to SERE, date: 24/04/2009; Telegram 705 from BRASEMB ACRA to SERE, date: 30/09/2011.
- 24.
Telegram 427 from BRASEMB ACCRA to SERE, date: 09/10/2013.
- 25.
Telegraphic dispatch 4 from SERE to BRASEMB NOUAKCHOTT, date: 2/01/2012; Telegram 13 from BRASEMB NOUAKCHOTT to SERE, date: 18/01/2012.
- 26.
Report 02/SCAI/CAE/EMCFA-MD, Strategic Affairs Division (Chefia de Assuntos Estratégicos), Department of International Affairs (SCAI – Sub-Chefia de Assuntos Internacionais), 2015.
- 27.
Report 02/SCAI/CAE/EMCFA-MD, Strategic Affairs Division (Chefia de Assuntos Estratégicos), Department of International Affairs (SCAI – Sub-Chefia de Assuntos Internacionais), 2015.
- 28.
Official Message 414 from Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Brazilian Ministry of Defence, date: 05/06/2009.
- 29.
Telegram 56 from BRASEMB YAOUNDÉ to SERE, date: 04/02/2015.
- 30.
Overseas Mission Report, military engineering advisor to the Senegalese Army, 2016–2017.
- 31.
Telegram 1237 from BRASEMB LUANDA to SERE, date: 13/07/2010.
- 32.
Telegram 454 from BRASEMB ACCRA to SERE, date: 26/11/2014. Contracta signed the contract with the Ghanaian Ministry of Defence in February 2010. An additional clause was signed in September 2011 regarding financing by BNDES. See Telegram 705 from BRASEMB ACCRA to SERE, date: 30/09/2011.
- 33.
Telegram 198 from BRASEMB ARGEL to SERE, date: 22/02/2006.
- 34.
Telegram 702 from BRASEMB ARGEL to SERE, date: 01/08/2006.
- 35.
Telegram 508 from BRASEMB MALABO to SERE, date: 31/12/2012.
- 36.
Telegram 91 from BRASEMB MALABO to SERE, date: 17/03/2011.
- 37.
Telegram 5 from BRASEMB MALABO to SERE, date: 12/01/2011.
- 38.
Telegram 330 from BRASEMB MALABO to SERE, date: 12/09/2013.
- 39.
Telegram 270 from BRASEMB LUANDA to SERE, date: 21/02/2013.
- 40.
Telegram 270 from BRASEMB LUANDA to SERE, date: 21/02/2013.
- 41.
The MoU was part of the Programme for the Development of Angolan Naval Power (PRONAVAL – Programa de Desenvolvimento do Poder Naval de Angola), created to provide Angola with the appropriate means to control its maritime space and which included, in addition to the construction of ships, the construction of a naval ship building facility to be located about 200 km from Luanda.
- 42.
Telegram 1164 from BRASEMB LUANDA to SERE, date: 09/09/2014; Telegram 814 from BRASEMB LUANDA to SERE, date: 11/09/2014.
- 43.
Telegram 319 from BRASEMB MAPUTO to SERE, date: 27/03/2009.
- 44.
Telegram 10 from BRASEMB ABIDJAN to SERE, date: 08/01/2013.
- 45.
Telegram 957 from BRASEMB ARGEL to SERE, date: 16/10/2006.
- 46.
Official Message 414 from Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Brazilian Ministry of Defence, date: 05/06/2009.
- 47.
Telegram 195 from BRASEMB ABIDJAN to SERE, date: 24/06/2009.
- 48.
Telegraphic dispatch 169 from SERE to BRASEMB ABIDJAN, date: 31/08/2009.
- 49.
Telegraphic dispatch 176 from SERE to BRASEMB ABIDJAN, date: 04/09/2009.
References
Adbenur, Adriana Erthal, Frank Mattheis, and Pedro Seabra. 2016. An ocean for the Global South? Brazil and zone of peace and cooperation in the South Atlantic. Cambridge Review of International Affairs 29(3): 1112–1131.
Abdenur, Adriana Erthal. 2018. Brazil-Africa relations: From boom to bust. In Africa and the world: Bilateral and multilateral international diplomacy, ed. Dawn Nagar and Charles Mutasa, 189–208. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Abdenur, Adriana Erthal, and Danilo Marcondes de Souza Neto. 2014. O Brasil e a cooperação em defesa: a construção de uma identidade regional no Atlântico Sul. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional 57 (1): 05–21.
Almeida Filho, Francisco D. de. 2015. Brasil e os países da costa oeste africana e a segurança marítima no Atlântico Sul. Ações conjuntas entre o Brasil, Angola, Namíbia e África do Sul em prol da segurança marítima no Atlântico Sul. Dissertation, Rio de Janeiro: C-PEM-Escola de Guerra Naval.
Asano, Camila, and Jefferson Nascimento. 2015. Armas como política externa: o caso brasileiro. SUR 12 (22): 41–53.
Bussotti, Luca, and Ernesto Macamo. 2018. A Cooperação Bilateral Brasil-Moçambique, com Enfoque Especial na Área da Defesa. Caderno de Estudos Africanos 36: 113–136.
Centro Conjunto de Operações de Paz do Brasil. 2017. CCOPAB’s instructor cooperates in training center in Africa. CCOPAB, September 22. http://www.ccopab.eb.mil.br/en/center-news/145-2017/970-ccopab-s-instructor-cooperates-in-training-center-in-africa. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Chade, Jamil. 2007. Armas do Brasil vão para países em conflito. Estado de São Paulo, August 29. https://brasil.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,brasil-arma-paises-em-conflito,42730. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Conca, Ken. 1997. Manufacturing insecurity the rise and fall of Brazil’s military-industrial complex. Lynne Rienner: Boulder.
Exército Brasileiro. 2018. Exército Brasileiro atua na África em cooperação com as Nações Unidas. Exército Brasileiro, September 21. https://www.eb.mil.br/web/noticias/noticiario-do-exercito/-/asset_publisher/MjaG93KcunQI/content/exercito-brasileiro-atua-na-africa-em-cooperacao-com-as-nacoes-unidas. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Franko-Jones, Patrice. 1994. The Brazilian defense industry. New York: Westview Press.
Gozzi, Ricardo. 2011. Tanzânia inibe ataque a navio a serviço da Petrobrás. Exame, October 4. https://exame.abril.com.br/negocios/tanzania-inibe-ataque-a-navio-a-servico-da-petrobras/. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Ismail, Olawale, and Elizabeth Skons, eds. 2014. Security activities of external actors in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kelly, Fergus. 2018. Nigeria A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft contract finally lands. The Defence Post, November 29. https://www.thedefensepost.com/2018/11/29/nigeria-a-29-super-tucano-contract-sierra-nevada/. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Magalhães, David A.M. 2016. A política brasileira de exportação de armas no contexto da revitalização da base industrial de defesa. PhD dissertation, São Paulo: UNESP/UNICAMP/PUC-SP.
Marcondes, Danilo. 2019. Brasil e Moçambique: Construindo a Cooperação em Defesa. In Desafios para Moçambique 2019, ed. Sergio Chichava, 377–392. Maputo: IESE.
Marcondes, Danilo, Maíra Siman, and Ricardo Oliveira. 2017. South-south cooperation and training for peacekeeping participation. Journal of International Peacekeeping 21 (3–4): 197–223.
Ministério da Defesa. 2013. LAAD 2013: Senegal firma acordos com o Brasil para compra de aviões Super Tucano e navios-patrulha. Ministério da Defesa, April 10. https://www.defesa.gov.br/noticias/4275-10-04-2013-defesa-laad-2013-senegal-firma-acordos-com-o-brasil-para-compra-de-avioes-super-tucano-e-navios-patrulha. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
———. 2014. Brasil enviará missão a Moçambique para auxiliar o país africano a revitalizar suas instalações navais. Ministério da Defesa, March 24. https://www.defesa.gov.br/index.php/noticias/8397-defesa-brasil-enviara-missao-a-mocambique-para-auxiliar-o-pais-africano-a-revitalizar-instalacoes-navais. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Moraes, Rodrigo F. 2012. A Inserção Externa da Indústrias de Defesa Brasileira de Defesa: 1975–2010. Textos IPEA 1715.
Nkala, Oscar. 2014. Equatorial Guinea commissions new frigate. DefenceWeb, June 24. https://www.defenceweb.co.za/sea/sea-sea/equatorial-guinea-commissions-new-frigate/. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Oliveira, Eliane. 2020. Com venda recorde no exterior, indústria brasileira de defesa terá incentivo federal. O Globo, February 26. https://oglobo.globo.com/economia/com-venda-recorde-no-exterior-industria-brasileira-de-defesa-tera-incentivo-federal-24272061. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Ramos, Murilo. 2016. Temer cancela doação de três aeronaves para Moçambique. Época, August 31. https://epoca.globo.com/tempo/expresso/noticia/2016/08/temer-cancela-doacao-de-tres-aeronaves-para-mocambique.html. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Romildo, José. 2019. Chanceler visita África para dinamizar cooperação no Atlântico Sul. Agência Brasil, December 7. http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/internacional/noticia/2019-12/chanceler-visita-africa-para-dinamizar-cooperacao-no-atlantico-sul. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Seabra, Pedro. 2014. A harder edge: Reframing Brazil’s power relation with Africa. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional 57 (1): 77–97.
———. 2016. Defence cooperation between Brazil and Namibia: Enduring ties across the South Atlantic. South African Journal of International Affairs 23 (1): 89–106.
Seabra, Pedro, and Adriana Erthal Abdenur. 2018. Age of choice or diversification? Brazil, Portugal, and capacity-building in the Angolan Armed Forces. African Security 11 (3): 252–273.
Sirota, Sara. 2019. First A-29 Super Tucano delivery to Nigeria pushed back to May 2021. Inside Defence, August 19. https://insidedefense.com/daily-news/first-29-super-tucano-delivery-nigeria-pushed-back-may-2021. Accessed 20 Jan 2020.
Acknowledgements
The views and opinions expressed in this chapter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the institutions to which they are affiliated to. Pedro Seabra would like to thank the support received by FCT, under grant SFRH/BPD/116700/2016. Danilo Marcondes would like to thank the support received by CAPES/PRÓ-DEFESA (edital n. 27/2018), CNPq grant 439044/2018-9 and FAPERJ grant E-26/202.732/2019.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Seabra, P., Marcondes, D. (2021). In and Out and Out Again: The Travails of Brazil as a Security Provider in Africa. In: Alencastro, M., Seabra, P. (eds) Brazil-Africa Relations in the 21st Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55720-1_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55720-1_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-55719-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-55720-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)