The Port and It’s City: Africa-Asia Encounters in Tema in Ghana, Lomé in Togo, and Dakar in Senegal

Paper Abstract: Situating the contemporary question of a “New Scramble for (West) Africa” in three maritime ports, this paper investigates how local communities and interests shape the reception of Asian involvement and how intra-Asia competition and collaborations shape Asian interventions. The main empirical case is the Port of Tema in Ghana, but intra-West African competition necessitates references to the Port of Lomé and the Port of Dakar. Dakar was a node in the interconnected Trans-Saharan and Silk Road networks and is now integrated in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. Just north of Lomé, Chinese investors have built an inland port. Ghanaian port officials and businesses perceive both as posing threats to their own trade networks.

By foregrounding competition also among Middle Eastern and Asian interests in African countries, the paper argues that connections and disconnects enable and obstruct the integration of African ports in international shipping routes. However, the ports in Africa are sites of multiple nodes and gateways. By distinguishing between ports as transshipment hubs and as gateways to the cities, inland communities, and landlocked neighboring countries, we see the complexity of intra-Asian and intra-African relations that affect the ports as sites of Africa-Asia encounters.

Network theory about disconnects and layered connections further help us understand the significance of historical alliances such as the Non-Aligned movement. The paper concludes that ignoring the complexities of the interrelationships at play in ports have already had dire consequences for the local communities, foreign investors, and an Africa-Asia Nexus that has much more potential.