DAKAR, Senegal
Senegalese President Macky Sall on Sunday said he would travel to Russia and Ukraine soon on behalf of the African Union, whose presidency he currently holds.
The trip had been due to take
place on May 18 but did not go ahead due to scheduling issues and new dates
have been put forward, Sall said at a joint news conference with visiting
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He had received a mandate from
the African Union to undertake the trip, for which Russia had extended an
invitation, he added.
“As soon as it’s set, I will
go of course to Moscow and also to Kyiv,” Sall said.
“We have also accepted to get
together all the heads of state of the African Union who want to with
(Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, who had expressed the need to communicate
with the African heads of state.”
“That too will be done in the
coming weeks.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
which has hit African economies hard due to rising cereal prices and fuel
shortages, has met with a divided African response.
In early March, Senegal
abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution — overwhelmingly adopted —
that called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.
However, a few weeks later it
voted in favour of another resolution demanding Russia halt the war.
Nearly half of African nations
abstained or did not vote in the two resolution votes.
Sall also said Senegal would
be “ready” to supply Europe with liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the continent
seeks to wean itself off Russian energy sources.
Along with neighbouring
Mauritania, Senegal hopes to exploit gas and oil deposits found in the Atlantic
in recent years.
Sall has estimated LNG
production starting in December 2023 and reaching 10 million tonnes per year in
2030.
The Senegalese leader said he
had asked Germany to help Senegal develop future projects. Scholz said
discussions should continue “in an intensive manner” because it was “in our
mutual interest to achieve progress”. - AFP
No comments:
Post a Comment