Staff Reporter.
South Africa said it was open to hosting talks between Russia and Ukraine on Thursday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed an African leaders’ peace mission seeking to end the conflict.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said last month that Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had both agreed to receive a six-member African peace team. The mission is expected to launch this month.
“We must be receptive to the possibility of South Africa hosting the peace summit here,” Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a minister in the president’s office, told journalists in Pretoria.
“If we are part of the initiative for peace and a venue for a summit is sought, the first place you look is within your backyard”.
Earlier Thursday, Ramaphosa’s office said the President had spoken by phone with Putin.
The Russian leader had “welcomed the initiative by African Heads of State and expressed his desire to receive the peace mission”.
The delegation announced by Ramaphosa last month comprises the presidents of the Republic of Congo, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
African countries have been badly hit by rising prices for grain since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — a major global source of wheat and other agriculture commodities — and the war’s wider impact on world trade.
The peace mission comes as South Africa is looking to burnish its neutrality credentials following accusations that it has drifted towards the Kremlin.
Ntshavheni also said the South African government has no plans yet to move the Brics summit to another country.
She was seemingly responding to media reports claiming South Africa was considering moving the summit to China to avoid the obligation to arrest Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
The ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the war crime of “deporting” Ukrainian children.
As a member of the ICC, South Africa is obliged to arrest Putin if he attends the Brics summit later this year.
South Africa, which is the Brics chair for 2023, is scheduled to host Brazil, China, India, and Russia at the summit in August.
Ntshavheni further said the gazetting of a notice for the Diplomatic Immunity and Privileges Act was standard practice for international summits held in South Africa.
“They are meant to protect the conference and its attendees from the jurisdiction of the host country for the duration of the conference.”
With inputs from Agence France-Presse.
Compiled by Lehlohonolo Lehana.