While Moscow is deepening its presence on the continent, Washington and other Western powers are increasingly viewed as inconsistent partners, leaving room for countries like Rwanda to explore new alliances.

The agreement was signed on May 19 at the Nuclear Energy Innovation Summit in Kigali, where Rwanda’s government emphasised its ambition to become a regional hub for technology, innovation and advanced healthcare. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) covers nuclear medicine and broader cooperation in health and nuclear science, including potential research reactor projects and training programmes.

Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told Al Jazeera that feasibility studies are under way for a small modular reactor (SMR)-based facility and a Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology. “In addition to Russian company Rosatom, Rwanda also signed MoUs with the US government on civil nuclear cooperation, as well as agreements with firms from South Africa and Austria”, Makolo said, highlighting Kigali’s strategy of engaging multiple international partners.

The proposed centre would eventually host a research reactor, laboratories, training facilities and nuclear medicine infrastructure, though the plan remains in its early stages. For now, Rwanda is sending students to Russia for nuclear engineering programmes, laying the groundwork for domestic technical capacity. Western influence in Africa, long rooted in aid, development financing and security partnerships, is facing new challenges. Some African governments question whether foreign partners can be relied upon when policy priorities shift between administrations.

Russia has moved quickly to exploit this uncertainty, promoting a policy of noninterference and respect for sovereignty, a message that resonates with leaders frustrated by perceived Western pressure. “Russia is benefitting from weakening perceptions of Western consistency”, said Professor Macharia Munene, a specialist in diplomacy and international relations. “In the eyes of some African leaders, Moscow’s approach is more predictable: you get investment and training without strings attached”.

Russia’s nuclear outreach is part of a broader strategy to expand its influence on the continent, with agreements reportedly signed in countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. Many of these deals involve Rosatom, the state nuclear agency central to Moscow’s technical and diplomatic push. At the same time, China’s growing economic footprint and the United States’s security partnerships in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Djibouti, home to the US’s largest military base in Africa, mean that Africa is increasingly a chessboard of competing powers. (Aljazeera)