Contrary to its reputation, Hungary is making very wise contributions to aiding African countries and their residents. Unlike ours, it is not considered wrong to take economic interests into account when making development policy decisions.
Since Viktor Orbán’s criticism of European migration policy and his statement that European politicians “encourage migrants and give the impression that it is worth leaving,” the European media has claimed that racism is part of everyday life in Hungary. Orbán has refused to accept illegal migrants since 2015, seeing them as a “threat to public safety.” As he recently said at the NatCon conference in Brussels, there are still no illegal immigrants (e.g. from Africa) in his country. On the other hand, his government is increasingly involved in individual African countries. How does that fit together?
Hardly anyone notices that thousands of Africans have come to Hungary in recent years to study at prestigious universities. Hungary has also welcomed hundreds of students from Ghana who fled Ukraine when the war began. Students were offered to pay the same cheap tuition fees as in Ukraine. Are Africans going to a “racist country”?
Around 8,000 Africans currently live in Hungary, of which 2,600 – from 25 African countries – study at Hungarian universities. A few hundred of them have received scholarships from the Hungarian state. But there are also numerous other practical examples of Hungarian commitment to Africa.
VOLKER SEITZ worked for the Federal Foreign Office from 1965 to 2008 in various positions, including in Equatorial Guinea, Japan, Brussels/EU, Benin, Armenia and Cameroon – in the last three countries as ambassador. He is part of the initiative group of the Bonn Call for Development Aid Reform and is the author of the bestseller “Africa is governed poorly”. He regularly publishes on the topic of development cooperation with Africa and gives lectures.
Uganda
Hungary has helped strengthen Uganda’s financial sector against cyberattacks and secure the mobile payments system. The cybersecurity project was financed by the Hungarian state with 3.9 million euros and carried out by a Hungarian company.
Hungary also financed the construction of three schools in the largest refugee camp in Uganda, helped modernize the public administration system, and modernized a mobile health center and a cardiology hospital. According to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Hungarian aid and development activities in Uganda have a total volume of $17 million. With this magnitude, Uganda ranks first among African countries for Hungary.
Chad
The Hungary Helps agency, founded in 2017, recently opened its first humanitarian aid representative office on the continent in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. According to its own statement, “Hungary Helps” wants to use emergency aid to ensure that people are not forced into emigration. Help should go to where the problems are and not bring people in distress to Europe. The maxim of the aid programs is to involve the local population and get the projects into their hands as quickly as possible.
The Orbán government is still met with distrust from the EU. Most recently in March 2024, when Hungary took part in peacekeeping measures in Chad with 200 soldiers (including Orbán’s son Gáspár, trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst). France in particular is angry because the Orbán government had not previously agreed with the French.
The Hungarian military arrived in Chad as part of a bilateral agreement. If the German media – in the spirit of France – accuse the Hungarian soldiers of a lack of local knowledge, experience with complicated ethnic conflicts or communication, then they have probably ignored the Bundeswehr’s Congo mission from 2003 to 2014. To date, there is no comprehensive account of the operation, neither for the Bundestag nor for the public.
Around 1,000 French people are still stationed in Chad. Since independence, Paris has maintained one of its largest military bases in the capital of its former colony, N’Djamena (formerly Fort Lamy). France has always controlled Chad and considers it its sphere of influence (sa chasse gardée).
French politicians are apparently not yet ready to give up their influence in the former colony of Chad. However, keeping presidents who were favorable to French interests in power has done a lot of damage to the reputation of the former “Grande Nation” (self-assessment). The coups in Guinea, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso each had different backgrounds, but everywhere people cheered the coup plotters; French flags were often burned at these demonstrations, accompanied by the slogan “A bas la France” (“Down with France”).
The government of Chad remains one of the French’s last allies. Anti-French sentiment in the Sahel region has not yet reached Chad.
Sierra Leone
At an economic forum with thirty Hungarian companies, cooperation with Sierra Leone in the areas of food security (food) and agriculture was agreed with the help of the University of Agricultural and Life Sciences (MATE), Gödöllő. MATE conducts research in areas such as crop cultivation, food security and nutrient-rich crops, and sustainable water management.
There are also investments to ensure access to clean drinking water for more than 300,000 people. In addition, 84 students from Sierra Leone are studying in Hungary.
Conclusion
Viktor Orbán was democratically elected with a large majority and obviously has the support of the majority of Hungarians to enforce his view of democracy and the rule of law. The bilateral examples above – Hungary also grants official development assistance (ODA) through multilateral channels (IMF, World Bank, UN institutions) in the form of financial contributions, mandatory membership fees and voluntary contributions – show that the inflationary allegations made against Hungary in the media are roughly proportional are unfair to Africans.
Since funds are limited, the country is concentrating on selected areas and projects. For Hungary, the best form of development assistance is technical assistance, support for education, training and the deployment of specialists. Unlike ours, it is not considered wrong to take economic interests into account when making development policy decisions.
Through the government’s framework program that began in 2017, Hungary is carrying out numerous development projects, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.
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