South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa said that the presidents of Russia and Ukraine Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky agreed to accept the African leaders’ mission to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict peacefully.
“This task has been discussed for months. <…> A group of African leaders insisted this was important to Africa, and it was for a great cause. I met with country leaders. [Украины и России]That’s what I mentioned and we decided to start this process,” said Ramaphosa, emphasizing the CGTN Europe broadcast.
Participants in the mission were the presidents of Zambia, Senegal, Congo, Uganda and Egypt, as well as the President of South Africa. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has already been briefed on this initiative.
“Africa is concerned about the Ukraine crisis, which has directly affected African countries, causing food and fuel prices to rise,” Ramaphosa said.
Representatives of Russia and Ukraine have not yet commented on the initiative of African countries. Kremlin May 12 knowledgeable About a phone call between Putin and the President of South Africa, in which it was confirmed that Russia is ready to provide grain and fertilizer to the needy African countries. According to Reuters, the decision to launch the mission was made after recent phone calls.
In his next message to the people of the country the previous day, the South African President said that Pretoria would not accept any party to the conflict in Ukraine, would not be drawn into the “fight between world powers” and advocated an immediate cessation of hostilities. Ramaphosa also opposed the view that South Africa’s non-blocking position favors Russia and jeopardizes relations with other countries.
“Literally besieged”
Earlier, Ambassador of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Ozerov, said that delegations from the USA, Canada, the UK and the European Union regularly visit African countries in order to influence the attitudes of the countries towards Russia.
“African leaders and African officials, parliaments, delegations are literally besieged and come almost daily from Washington and other Anglo-Saxon countries: Canada, Great Britain and also the European Union. They are demanding to almost stop cooperation with Russia,” he said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
In February, Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Chad Vladimir Sokolenko pointed out that the West exerts strong pressure on Africa due to its contacts with Moscow. According to him, European diplomats have declared the mainland “the EU’s special interest zone” and are trying to influence politics.
Grain to Africa
Russia, Türkiye, Ukraine and UN representatives signed a grain agreement in July 2022. It includes grain, food and fertilizer exports of Ukraine, especially to the needy countries in Africa, via the Black Sea. In the autumn, Moscow announced that the West was exporting most of the cargo to their own countries. The contract expires on May 18. UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric assured that negotiations on the food deal would resume before that date.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov noted that the contacts regarding the grain agreement continue, but many problems regarding the Russian part of the agreement remain.