By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says a phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, its part of South Africa commitment in ensuring peace and stability in the world.
Addressing a BRICS Business Colloquium in Sandton on Thursday last night, Ramaphosa described his meeting with Zelensky as fruitful.
The two presidents spoke to each other for the first since Ramaphosa led a team of African heads of state to Ukraine and Russia in June in an attempt to try and end the war.
Ramaphosa and six African heads of state — Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuly, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, president of the Comoros Azali Assoumani and Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema — visited Ukraine and Russia in June in a bid to broker peace in the conflict which broke out in February last year.
“I spoke to President Zelensky on issues that stem from our visit and discussions. He appreciated our visit and said it was a positive visit. We spoke about the 10 points we set out, and he said he appreciated South Africa’s role. Our country continues to play an important role in seeing how conflicts can be resolved,” Ramaphosa said.
In a tweet on Thursday night, Zelensky said: “Had a phone call with the Republic of South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa. Thanked him for visiting Bucha and Kyiv together with other African leaders and for further efforts to return children illegally deported by Russia. We praised the results of the meeting of advisors in Copenhagen.
“We discussed the preparations for the Global Peace Summit and the necessary diplomatic steps to consolidate African support for Ukraine. We also emphasised the importance of extending the grain corridor.” I invited South Africa to join the #GrainFromUkraine initiative.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2020, there have been two windows for grain to move via the Black Sea, the first one in July last year was a 120-day cycle.
It was later replaced by a 60-day run in March this year, which is coming to an end.
However, during negotiations for the second round, Russia complained that only 3% of the grain went to Africa.
If this remained the case, Russia said it would send grain to Africa free of charge, a move widely seen as a geopolitical stunt.
Through the initiative, the World Food Programme (WFP) has chartered vessels to transport approximately 600 000 tonnes of grain in support of its humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Yemen, according to the most recent complete information from the aid agency.
The call should help to repair relations between the two countries which have become strained by South Africa’s diplomatic positions on the war. It has abstained three times from resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia’s aggression.
South Africa insisted it has abstained not because it condones Russia’s aggression, but because it believes that a balanced approach is necessary to try to find a diplomatic resolution to the war.
Ramaphosa said the war and its impact would be discussed at the Brics summit in August. The heads of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, are expected to attend the summit along with large delegations.
Meanwhile government is still trying to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin not to attend the next month’s BRICS summit.
As a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for his arrest, SA is obliged to arrest Putin, should he come to SA. But this is an unthinkable proposition for the government, as the government invited him.
SA’s bonds and currency were hit hard after the claim by US ambassador to SA Reuben Brigety that SA had sold arms to Russia, which were loaded onto the now famous Lady R, which had docked in Simonstown.