Germany's new top diplomat showed himself to be a reliable partner during his inaugural visit to Africa. Now all that is needed is a meaningful policy on Africa, says Ludger Schadomsky.
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Germany's Heiko Maas (l.) meets Deputy Chairman of the African Union Thomas Kwesi in Addis AbabaImage: Imago/photothek/I. Kjer
Unlike during his appearance the previous week in New York, Heiko Maas repeatedly emphasized on his three-day inaugural trip to Africa that he had not traveled there to promote Germany's candidacy for a nonpermanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
If this really was the case, then, by chance, the new guy did some things right. In many respects, his visit was symbolic: As the new foreign minister, he prioritized this trip to Africa. Not even seven weeks in office, Maas has already traveled to Ethiopia and Tanzania, both Berlin's long-standing partners and headquarters of important regional organizations. In Ethiopia, a country of 100 million people, there is currently a cautious thawing of political relations; in the former German colony of Tanzania, the government is (too) vehemently fighting corruption.
Quadriga - EU-Africa: Equal Partners?
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Multilateral vision
At every chance, the newly appointed foreign minister stated his credo: At a time of increasing unilateralism, we must have the courage to stand up for multilateralism. This is well-placed for Africa, which, following the European model, is becoming more and more interlinked under the strategic framework "Agenda 2063," from the pan-African passport to the envisaged free trade zone. Much is still in the early stages, national self-interest is widespread (the new Europe sends its regards), but a positive trend is clearly visible. So, the encouragement of a valued partner like Germany is coming at exactly the right time.
Meaningful initiatives
The German G20 presidency last year, during which the focus was on Africa, was hopelessly overloaded with more or less meaningful initiatives. Above all, however, discourse on Africa in 2017 was conducted against the background of migration flows from the continent to Europe. It was not without good reason that German foreign and development policy earned the reputation of being, in fact, anti-migration policy. It was therefore quite beneficial that the topic of migration was, at least officially, not an issue during this visit.
Instead, Maas, with noticeable enthusiasm, perhaps due to his background as a lawyer, was concerned with international jurisdiction. Two visits were on the agenda: to the administrator of the international criminal tribunals of The Hague and Arusha, and to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. Not all African countries have ratified these courts' protocols, and Germany, as a major donor, is supposed to help by asserting gentle pressure and supporting steady capacity building.
How one German museum is facing up to its colonial art
Colonial-era art often reveals both fascination with and infantalization of the controlled regions. A new exhibition is the first in Germany to publically examine the history of the colonial art in its own collection.
Image: Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven
Postcard of the former Colonial Memorial in Bremen, before 1945
The Kunsthalle Bremen is the first museum in Germany and second in Europe after the Tate Britain, to review its collection through a postcolonial lens. Visitors can view a wide range of works in the collection on display from August 5 to November 19.
Image: Sammlung Joachim Zeller
'Bremen, the Key to the Oceans,' ca. 1935
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Hanseatic port city of Bremen was a global hub of commercial activity and international trade. It was also a point of departure for Germany's colonial expansion and exploitation, as well as the port from which millions of immigrants left for the New World in the 19th century.
Image: Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven
'Mount Fuji from the Tea Plantation of Katakura in Suruga Province,' 1830
The Kunsthalle collection includes magnificent woodcarvings from Japan, most of them from the Edo period (1603-1868). Towards the end of that era, in 1853, the US navy forced Japan to open to international trade. In 1905, Heinrich Wiegand, the director of the German shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd, financed a trip to Japan through which most of the museum's masterpieces were acquired.
Image: Kunsthalle Bremen - Der Kunstverein in Bremen
Ad for shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen, ca. 1935
The Norddeutscher Lloyd ship took German artists such as Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein to islands in the Pacific Ocean shortly before the start of World War I. In addition to artistic passengers, the ship also transported woodcarvings from Japan and art from South America, among other valuable items. Works from these countries are on display in the exhibition.
Image: Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven
'Man's Head,' Emil Nolde, 1913-14
German-Danish artist Emil Nolde was one of many modernist painters inspired by sculptures from Africa and the Pacific. However, such works were often done with little understanding of the cultural context of the pieces and without crediting the original artists.
Image: Nolde Stiftung Seebüll
'Still Life with Apples and Bananas,' Paula Modersohn-Becker, 1905
This popular painting from the early 20th century is a reminder of the 19th-century trade relations between merchants in Bremen, the Netherlands and Great Britain, which had a considerable number of colonies. The social interactions between these groups were centered around colonial goods, some of which were depicted by artists like Modersohn-Becker.
Image: Kunsthalle Bremen - Der Kunstverein in Bremen
'Mask of a Tahitian woman,' Paul Gauguin, 1890
Renowned for his works depicting Tahitian women, Paul Gauguin spent many years at the end of the 19th century traveling to French colonies. The art inspired by these trips is known as primitivist. It is an ambiguous concept in postcolonial theory: Even though the art celebrated "unspoiled" humanity, it is also a denigrating label maintaining that these cultures hadn't reached Western standards.
Image: Kunsthalle Bremen - Der Kunstverein in Bremen
'Queen Victoria,' Unknown artist from Nigeria, ca. 1900
Sculptures like this one from Nigeria show how European colonial powers were depicted by artists in the colonies. Works borrowed from the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology, like this one, are on display as part of "The Blind Spot" exhibition and provide insight into this particular time in history.
Image: Völkerkundemuseum Hamburg/Brigitte Saal
'Cui Bono,' Hew Locke, 2017
Scottish artist Hew Locke focuses on globalization and colonialism in his work. His latest, "Cui Bono," was inspired by the historic ships of Hanseatic merchants. According to Locke, "The search for wealth, violent conflict and the desire for security are factors that have affected the global movements of people for centuries."
Image: Hew Locke/Hales Gallery/VG Bild-Kunst
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Training instead of returned artifacts
Maas also took the sensitive topic of the culture of remembrance from Berlin to Africa by honoring African victims of the First World War. His office wants greater participation in the Humboldt Forum's flagship project, which is to be the centerpiece of Berlin's new palace and will display ethnological collections from Asia, Africa and the Americas. But since French President Emmanuel Macron announced the return of colonial loot and stolen art to Africa, Berlin and London are now under pressure.
While the controversy continues over the historical reappraisal of the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples in present-day Namibia, dialogue with Tanzania is more relaxed. Maas' Tanzanian counterpart did not demand the return of the monumental dinosaur skeleton from Berlin's natural history museum, but rather, German help in training local archaeologists.
Germany needs clearer policies
The new foreign minister's inaugural talks clearly showed that Germany continues to enjoy a good reputation in Africa. Berlin is a reliable partner in terms of financing peacekeeping operations on the continent and in supporting important regional organizations and dialogue on democracy and human rights.
Now, under the new German government, all these activities must finally be brought together to form a coherent policy on Africa. For years, this has not gone much further than well-intentioned ideas.
Following the unexpected withdrawal of its competitor Israel on Friday, Berlin can now, with some certainty, place relevant Africa issues prominently on the UN Security Council's agenda in 2019 and 2020.
