Published on : 02/06/2022 – 10:37
Senegalese President Macky Sall, current chairman of the African Union, travels to Russia on Thursday for talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Friday. The two leaders are due to discuss the war in Ukraine, including the blocking of grain exports from that country to Africa.
The President of Senegal Macky Sallaccompanied by the Chadian Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the the african unionis going to Russia on Thursday June 2 to meet Vladimir Putin.
This visit “is part of the efforts of the Presidency-in-Office of the Union to contribute to calming the war in Ukraine, and to freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilizers whose blockage particularly affects African countries“, specify his services in a press release, adding that the visit takes place at the invitation of Vladimir Putin.
And to specify: “In the same spirit, the African Union has accepted President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request to send a message to the organization by videoconference, the date and terms of which will be agreed by mutual agreement”.
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In a message sent on Tuesday to the leaders of European countries meeting in Brussels, the Senegalese president had asked to do everything “to release the stocks of cereals available” in Ukraine but blocked because of the Russian offensive, which is organizing a blockade in the Black Sea. and prohibits access to the port of Odessa. He had mentioned “the catastrophic scenario of shortages and generalized price increases”.
Macky Sall had pointed out that the current crisis followed that of Covid-19 and that the latter had already worsened hunger in Africa. “The worst may be ahead of us,” he said.
Abstention of nearly half of African countries during the vote on resolutions at the UN
The President of Senegal recalled that many African countries, including his own, are heavily dependent on grain imports from the region. He was also worried regarding the consequences of European sanctions excluding Russian banks from the international Swift system, a secure messaging platform allowing crucial operations such as fund transfer orders.
Senegal, with strong relations with Western countries, surprised on March 2 by abstaining from a UN General Assembly vote in favor of a resolution which demanded “that Russia immediately stop using to force once morest Ukraine”.
On the other hand, Senegal had voted, on March 24, a second resolution demanding from Russia an immediate end to the war.
Almost half of African countries abstained or did not vote in both votes.
Macky Sall explained during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Dakar at the end of May that the conflict “affects” Africans, but is taking place “on another continent”. He had, however, said “condemn the invasion”, more explicitly than in the past.
With AFP