China has vastly increased its commercial investments in Africa in recent years, building factories and railroads, and it operates a major port in Djibouti. The Chinese military is also eying the construction of a new port in Senegal under the guise of assisting the Senegalese Navy, according to a United States military official. Both China and the United States, with military bases in Djibouti, share the same coastline as the potential Russian port. Russia has also expressed interest in building a naval logistics center in Eritrea, but it is unclear how far along those negotiations are, American officials said. About 1,500 miles south, down the eastern coast of Africa, Russian military transport planes landed last summer in Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique and, according to American officials, deployed about 160 personnel belonging to the Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor.

Source: New York Times January 28, 2020 10:00 UTC