Ramaphosa leads delegation to Kyiv and St Petersburg
The war in Ukraine is affecting up to 1.3 billion people in Africa, South Africa’s leader Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday in a meeting with Ukrainian leaders. But Ramaphosa, who led a delegation of six African countries to Ukraine and Russia over the weekend, still refuses to blame the country that started it. The delegation, which also included leaders from Senegal, Egypt, Zambia and the Comoros, shared peace proposals for both Ukraine and Russia, including negotiations, conflict de-escalation, respect for the UN charter, security guarantees, a prisoner exchange – and, critically for Africa, the free flow of grain and fertilisers. Ramaphosa said Russia should return children abducted from Ukraine, but recently issued blanket diplomatic immunity to leaders attending a Brics summit in August in Johannesburg to help Putin avoid an international criminal court arrest warrant over these abductions and other war crimes. The peace proposals so far do not mention the requirement for Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine. Zelenskyy says without that, no negotiations are possible.
Photograph Ramil Sitdikov/ RIA Novosti/ AFP via Getty Images