PHUTI MOSOMANE
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday travelled to Poland en route to Ukraine and Russia as an envoy of the African Peace Mission which aims to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the two countries..
The mission is an initiative of leaders from South Africa, Zambia, the Comoros, Congo Brazzaville, Egypt, Senegal and Uganda.
The countries say the war in Ukraine is affecting their economies adversely and that the rising tensions are the threat to Africa as a whole.
“The human and negative economic impact and tension arising from the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is a grave situation that affects all of us in an interconnected world.
“The African Peace Mission brings an African perspective and an appeal for a peace process to deliberations that are underway in various parts of the world and within different formations of nations on how to address the conflict in Ukraine and Russia.
“We are pleased and encouraged by the openness with which the two Presidents have undertaken to engage with African leaders on this matter. From our own experience, it is at times of escalated conflict that a search for peace must be equally accelerated.
“This peace initiative should be seen as complementing other peace initiatives that other parties have put forward. The strength of this mission is that African leaders will be engaging with both parties”.
On Thursday afternoon the President visited the Polish capital, Warsaw, to pay a courtesy call to President Andrzej Duda, whose country shares borders with Ukraine and Russia and is deeply affected by the regional conflict.
Ramaphosa arrived in Poland.
His Excellency President @CyrilRamaphosa received by His Excellency President @AndrzejDuda of the Republic of Poland at the Presidential Palace for a courtesy call.#BetterAfricaBetterWorld 🌍 pic.twitter.com/cArEY9KFUN
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) June 15, 2023
On Friday, he will join the other African leaders in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for peace deliberations with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Later on Friday, Ramaphosa will leave Kyiv en route to St Petersburg, Russia, where the African delegation will engage with President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
President Ramaphosa has in recent weeks been in conversation with Putin of the Russian Federation, President Zelenskyy, President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, leaders of BRICS countries and the Secretary-General of the United Nations regarding efforts to facilitate a peaceful process to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, in line with South Africa’s standing as a non-aligned state.
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