Six African leaders plan to travel to Russia and Ukraine “as soon as possible” to help find a solution to the war, the South African president said on Tuesday Cyril Ramaphosa.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putinand the Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenskyhave “agreed to receive the mission and the African Heads of State, both in Moscow and in kyiv,” declared Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa said that he had kept “separate phone calls” with Putin and Zelensky during the weekend, in which he presented an initiative developed by Zambia, Senegalthe Republic of Congo, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa.
“I have agreed with both President Putin and President Zelensky to start preparations for engagements with African heads of state,” Ramaphosa said.
“We hope to keep intense conversations”, he said at a press conference in Cape Town during a state visit by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Long.
The UN Secretary General, Anthony Guterresand the african union (AU) have been informed of the initiative and have welcomed it, Ramaphosa added.
Ramaphosa did not give a specific timetable for the visit or other details, saying only that the conflict had been “devastating” and that Africa “is also suffering a lot” thus.
African countries have been hit hard by rising prices. grain prices and for the impact on world trade.
The announcement came a day after Ramaphosa said that South Africa it had come under “extraordinary pressure” to take sides in the conflict, following accusations by the United States that Pretoria supplied arms to Moscow, a move that would break its professed neutrality.
prudent support
The mission will be the last in a series of diplomatic efforts so far unsuccessful in stopping the war.
Tuesday was scheduled to arrive at kyiv of a Chinese special envoy on a two-day visit to promote peace negotiations led by Beijing.
Last week, Guterres told a Spanish newspaper that the peace negotiations were “impossible at this time”with both parties “convinced that they can win”.
But Ramaphosa said the African initiative had found a “cautious support” in Washington and in several European capitals visited by “facilitators” in charge of presenting the plan.
The effort could help Pretoria to rehabilitate its image as a neutral actor and mediator, after accusations that he has drifted towards Russia.
The commander of the South African land forces was in Moscow on Monday to discuss military cooperation, in the latest in a series of incidents that critics cite as evidence of a inclination towards the Kremlin.
Last week, the US envoy to Pretoria said that The United States believed that weapons had been loaded and ammunition on a Russian freighter that docked at a Cape Town naval base in December.
On Monday, Ramaphosa said that South Africa would not be drawn “into a contest between world powers” despite having faced “extraordinary pressures” to do it.
“We do not accept that our non-aligned position favors Russia over other countries. We also do not accept that it jeopardizes our relations with other countries,” Ramaphosa said in a weekly presidential bulletin.
South Africa has refused to condemn the conflict in Ukrainewhich has largely isolated Moscow on the international scene, claiming it wants to remain neutral.
(With information from AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com