South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is heading an African mediation delegation, told Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Saturday that “the war must end” in Ukraine.
“The war cannot last forever (…). This war must end,” defended Ramaphosa, during a meeting with Putin, in Saint Petersburg.
“It is in our common interest that this war ends,” insisted the South African leader, who stressed that his continent is being adversely affected by this conflict in eastern Europe.
This weekend, four African heads of state – Cyril Ramaphosa, from South Africa, Macky Sal, from Senegal, Hakainde Hichilema, from Zambia, and Azali Assoumani, from Comoros (current president of the African Union) – traveled to Saint Petersburg and Kiev. , to seek meetings with Zelensky and Putin.
“We are here to listen to them, to listen to the voice of the Russian people,” said the president of the Comoros, adding that the purpose of the delegation is “to convince both countries to follow the path of dialogue.”
In Kiev, on Friday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, had rejected the proposal of the African delegation, denouncing that it was a strategy orchestrated by Moscow, when the Ukrainian forces seek to develop a counteroffensive.
This Saturday, in Saint Petersburg, Putin once again said that he respects “the position of the African states in favor of maintaining stability”, showing satisfaction for “their aspiration to a pacifist policy”.
The Russian leader appreciated the interest in finding ways to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, stressing that “the comprehensive strengthening of ties with the countries of the African continent is a foreign policy priority” of his government.
Source: TSF
