JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
A delegation of African heads of state is expected to arrive in Russia imminently for talks with President Vladimir Putin, the latest in a series of mediation efforts aimed at bringing an end to the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
The presidents of South
Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and the Republic of Congo are
participating in the peace initiative.
They also plan to travel to
Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Details of their
proposals to end the fighting haven’t been made public.
“The leaders of several
African states are expected to come to Russia soon,” Putin said Tuesday at a
meeting with military reporters. “We have agreed to discuss current issues.”
The African leaders will face
an uphill battle to convince the warring sides to lay down their weapons, with
Zelenskiy having already rejected any deal that entails Ukraine ceding any
territory to Russia and Putin unlikely to agree to conditions for a troop
withdrawal.
Details of the trip have been
kept under wraps amid security concerns surrounding the mission, which was
announced by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month. France and
China are spearheading separate interventions to try and bring an end to the
fighting.
Just over half of Africa’s 55
nations voted in favour of United Nations resolutions condemning the Russian
invasion of Ukraine, while most of the rest abstained. The continent has been
severely affected by the conflict, which has disrupted trade in grain and
fertiliser and pushed up prices.
The war has placed South
Africa in a particularly invidious position. It’s due to host a meeting of
heads of state from the Brics nations in August, but it’s a member of the
International Criminal Court and it would be obliged to execute an arrest
warrant the tribunal has issued for Putin if he attends. Pretoria is now
considering moving the gathering to China, which isn’t an ICC member.
While South Africa insists
that it has adopted a non-aligned position toward the conflict, US Ambassador
Reuben Brigety last month accused Pretoria of supplying weapons to Russia, an
allegation it denies. Fears that the altercation could sour South Africa’s
relations with its second-biggest trading partner drove the rand to a record
low against the dollar last month.
In a letter dated June 9 that
was published by the New York Times on Tuesday, US lawmakers from both sides of
the floor criticised Pretoria’s close ties with Russia and called on the Biden
administration to reconsider plans to host the Africa Growth and Opportunity
Act Forum in South Africa in November. AGOA affords a number of African nations
duty-free access to American markets and the four congressmen said South
Africa’s actions called into question its eligibility to benefit.
No decision has been taken to
move the forum and Pretoria continues to enjoy the support of the US
government, Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for South Africa’s international
relations department, said on Twitter.
Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa’s
spokesman, on Monday, denied that South Africa may be censured over its
relations with Russia.
“It’s difficult to entertain
speculation about sanctions, which we find to be reckless and undermining
efforts under way to rebuild our economy, which is under strain and pressure,”
he told reporters in Pretoria, the capital. - Bloomberg
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