Being no longer just an object of history
Africa, the war in Ukraine and the omens of a new world order
by Karl-Jürgen Müller
On 16 and 17 June 2023, five African heads of state and government as well as senior diplomatic representatives from two other African countries – with harassment at the stopover in Warsaw – first visited Kiev to talk to Ukrainian President Zelensky, and then St. Petersburg to talk to Russian President Putin on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The coverage of this trip and these talks in German-language media was – with exceptions – scant. In the commentaries on the African politicians’ concerns, criticism predominated – not least because higher goals than those actually sought by the African leaders were alleged. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was criticised in various media reports for his country’s good relations with Russia and was also accused of profiling. Once again, there was no lack of polemical sideswipes against the Russian president.
The efforts of the African politicians and diplomats were most appreciated by the Catholic press.1 However, an advance commentary in the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” of 8 June deserved attention. It was entitled: “African peace initiative for Ukraine: A foretaste of the new world order”, reading: “The peace initiative also deserves attention regardless of its outcome. For it demonstrates what has been ignored in this country much too long: For a while now, African states have been striving for increased international influence, self-confident and aware of their power. It is an expression of a comprehensive change in world politics. The countries of the South no longer want to be perceived merely as aid recipients or pawns of the big international players. They demand respect. For they know about their growing importance as trading partners or strategic allies. But for them, to get recognition and real appreciation is still happening much too rarely in Germany and Europe.” And further: “Politics here will have to adjust to the fact that Africa is gaining in importance – and wants to have a say when it comes to the international order, to the distribution of power in the world. And about war and peace. The current mediation efforts for Ukraine are only a foretaste of this.”
But this is still an exception in the German-speaking mainstream.
The initiative of the African leaders and their trip to Kiev and St. Petersburg is the first attempt by African states to contribute to peace in a non-African conflict that has turned belligerent. From all that can be gleaned from the accessible articles and documents, the African leaders and diplomats have proceeded prudently, focusing first on establishing a direct thread of dialogue and listening to the Ukrainian and Russian interlocutors to get a direct picture of what both sides are putting forward. They have also contributed their own thoughts – but without big power or know-it-all attitude or claims to exclusive representation. There is talk of a “10-point plan”, which, however, is not yet official.2
Of course, Africa also has its own interest in an end to the conflict. “This conflict is having a negative impact on Africa,” the President of South Africa is quoted as saying. “The path to peace” is “very hard”, but it is important to end this conflict rather sooner than later, “by negotiations and diplomatic means”.
The meeting in Kiev ended with a joint press conference. This, however, showed mainly that the Ukrainian president is currently not prepared to negotiate and is instead setting conditions that are unacceptable to Russia. Moreover, Zelensky stated that he did not understand what the African delegation’s visit to Putin was supposed to achieve.
The Russian president has not made any public statements after the meeting with the African dialog partners. But there is a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and a detailed report by the Russian news agency TASS.
For a long time, I considered which voices were suitable to be documented here and decided on the report of the Russian news agency TASS (because of its comprehensiveness and in order to document the Russian position, which is largely ignored here in the West) and a commentary by a young journalist from South Africa. •
1 cf. kathpress.at of 16 June 2023 and in advance Vatican News of 14 June 2023
2 cf. the 10 points in dailymaverick.co.za of 18 June 2023
Key points of Vladimir Putin’s meeting with African peace mission
(picture Pavel Bednyakov, RIA Novosti)
Russia is ready to review any proposals from African states on the Ukrainian settlement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, receiving the representatives of seven African states, who arrived to present their peace initiative on Ukraine. Earlier, the African delegation discussed the initiative with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev.
During the talks with Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa presented the 10 main points of the peace plan, which include de-escalation of the conflict on both sides, diplomatic negotiations, ensuring sovereignty of states in accordance with the UN Charter, exchange of captives, post-war reconstruction and others. In response, Putin pointed out that Ukraine has withdrawn from the talks with Russia on its own initiative, although a peace agreement has been preliminarily signed in Istanbul. In addition, Russia was entitled to recognise the independence of DPR [Donetsk]and LPR [Luhansk] under the UN Charter, Putin noted.
The talks lasted for over 3 hours, and were subsequently commented upon by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Here are the key points from Putin’s conversation with the African leaders.
Africa’s balanced attitude
The African mission included President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Comoros Azali Assoumani (who also currently chairs the African Union), President of Senegal Macky Sall, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, Prime Minister of Egypt Mostafa Madbouly and Special Representatives of Presidents of the Republic of the Congo and Uganda Floran Nsiba and Ruhakana Rugunda.
In the beginning of the negotiations, Putin underscored that the comprehensive development of ties with African states is a priority of Russia’s foreign policy.
“We consistently advocate further strengthening of the traditionally friendly relations with African states and the main regional association – the African Union – based on principles of equality, mutual respect and non-intervention in internal affairs,” Putin said.
He added that Russia is open to a constructive dialogue with everyone who desires peace based on principles of justice equity and consideration of legitimate interests of all sides, noting that Russia values the balanced attitude of African countries to the situation in Ukraine and their desire to settle the crisis.
The 10 peace plan points
“We have arrived to listen to you and, through you, to listen to the voice of the Russian people. We would like to motivate you to enter negotiations with Ukraine in order to end this complex problem,” Azali Assoumani noted. Macky Sall underscored that Africa wants peace between Russia and Ukraine, which is only possible based on dialogue and compromise.
Meanwhile, Cyril Ramaphosa stated that the time has come to end the conflict in Ukraine. Noting that Africa would like to become a mediator in the search for peace, he presented the plan, which focuses on the 10 main points for its achievement. The plan calls to listen to the positions of both countries; to begin the de-escalation on both sides; to ensure the sovereignty of states and peoples in accordance with the UN Charter; to achieve guarantees of security for all countries; to ensure transportation of both countries’ grain and fertiliser; humanitarian support to people affected by the war; settlement of the issue of exchange of prisoners and repatriation of children; post-war reconstruction and aid to the people affected by the war; closer cooperation with African states.
Russia’s right to recognise Donbass
The Russian President reacted to the presented peace plan, providing explanations of Russia’s position on some of them.
He pointed out that Russia supported the people of Donbass after the “bloody coup” in Ukraine, and had been trying to settle the situation peacefully for a long time.
“It was the Kiev regime who started this war in 20214, and we were entitled to provide [people of Donbass – TASS] with aid, in accordance with the UN Charter Article 51, citing the clause regarding self-defense,” Putin underscored.
The preliminarily signed peace treaty
Putin pointed out that the Russian side has never rejected negotiations with Ukraine. It was Ukraine that declared its unwillingness, which was cemented by Zelensky’s decree1.
Putin also pointed out that the Ukrainian authorities have preliminarily signed the draft agreement with Moscow, prepared in March, 2022 in Istanbul; however, after Russian forces were withdrawn, Ukraine disregarded the document. The President presented the document, which includes 18 articles and appendixes, to the African leaders. The document included clauses on neutrality and guarantees of security.
“It also touches upon armed forces and other things. It was all written down – up to numbers of vehicles and personnel,” Putin disclosed.
Later, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the African leaders were interested to learn about the draft agreement on Ukraine.
Relocation of children
The Russian authorities have relocated children from the conflict area legally and never opposed their reconciliation with facilities, the head of state underscored.
“We were relocating them from the conflict area, saving their lives and health – this is what was happening. No one had any intention to separate any children from their parents. Entire orphanages were relocated totally legally, because orphanage heads were their legal representatives,” he said. Putin added that Russian authorities “have never opposed reconciliation of children with their families, if, of course, their relatives show up.”
Exchange of captives
The Russian president noted that Moscow cooperates with Kiev on exchange of POWs: “A lot is being done for that, both by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and our other partners and friends. And we are ready to support this process.”
Deception instead of grain deal
Putin called the fact that food does not go to African countries in need under the grain deal a deception: “These neo-colonial authorities – European, and, in essence, American ones – once again deceived the international community and African countries in need.”
According to Putin, about 31.7 million tons of agricultural products have already been exported from Ukrainian ports under the grain initiative, but only 3.1% of this volume went to developing countries.
The president stated that grain shipments from Ukraine do not solve the hunger problem.
“The crisis on the global food market is not at all a consequence of the special military operation in Ukraine; it started to emerge long before the situation in Ukraine. I emerged because Western states – both the US and European states – engaged in economically unjustified emission in order to solve its problems, connected to the coronavirus pandemic,” Putin noted.
Understanding of true reasons
After the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was also present there, disclosed that the African peace initiative is not cemented on paper yet, but the African leaders displayed understanding of “true, deep reasons behind the current events” and comprehend that the exit from this situation lies in development of special specific actions on elimination of these reasons.
“First of all, [the African states] pointed out the well-known 12 points of the Chinese position, which was presented several months earlier, and they highlighted the parts [...] that are close to them and that stipulate that there must be no double standards, that all principles of the UN Charter [...] are respected and implemented, that no unilateral sanctions take place, that no one must try to ensure own security at the expense of security of others, that security remains indivisible on the global scale,” the Foreign Minister said, underscoring that Russia supports such principal approaches.
According to Kremlins Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin and the African representatives are ready for further contacts, although not all clauses of the peace initiative correlate with Russia’s position. •
1 The Russian president is most likely referring here to a decree issued by the Ukrainian president at the beginning of October 2022, which prohibits Ukrainians from negotiating peace with Russia. (Editor’s note)
Source: https://tass.com/politics/1634521 of 18 June 2023
Peace Mission: better late than never
by Siyavuya Mzantsi*
The proverb “better late than never” finds true meaning from the recent peace mission undertaken by some African leaders in Ukraine and Russia.
While it took them months to get first-hand knowledge of the conflict, the leaders led by President Cyril Ramaphosa are to be commended for making it their business to visit and hear both sides.
Put aside for one second the real politics that may have been at play in influencing the decision to finally visit, the impact of the conflict – especially in Africa – cannot be overstated.
It’s hard arguing against those describing the peace mission as historic for the continent, which has been largely seen as a bystander in global issues.
It becomes disheartening that many, including in the media space, have sought to downplay the importance of this exercise.
Of course, the expectation could not have been that the leaders would be able to bring the conflict to an end immediately. That would have been wishful thinking. Even those countries before them tried and failed.
Instead, theirs was to establish from the two countries what could be done towards achieving peace.
Their draft framework document proposing a series of “confidence-building measures” stated clearly that the mission’s objective was “to promote the importance of peace and to encourage the parties to agree to a diplomacy-led process of negotiations”.
If they had it their way, they would have been satisfied with seeing troops being pulled back, removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of implementation of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and sanctions relief.
What has become apparent from this visit is that no visit by any head of state will bring this conflict to an end unless the two countries themselves are ready to do so. When that happens, there will be no real winners.
While the efforts by Senegalese President Macky Sall and Ramaphosa, who headed the delegation including leaders from Zambia, the Comoros and Egypt’s prime minister may have appeared to be in vain now, they should take pride in adding African voices in this global crisis. •
Source: https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/opinion/peace-mission-better-late-than-never-0d733c8d-fc4b-48f0-bf91-2cdaa37a388b of 19 June 2023
* Siyavuya Mzantsi is a South African journalist and editor of the “Cape Times” newspaper. He received his first international journalism award in 2020 at the age of 26 (see https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/cape-times-editor-siyavuya-mzantsi-wins-big-at-inma-30-under-30-awards-a8824a32-e80f-4c4c-bee2-6776fbc903bc).
“We know what the war is about …”
During a recent interview with a BBC reporter former South African minister of sport and current secretary-general of the African National Congress Fikile Mbalula* said he welcomed good relations with Vladimir Putin, much to the reporter’s dismay. When reminded that Putin is an accused war criminal, Mbalula pointed out that former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was responsible for millions of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet he was not threatened with arrest.
BBC Reporter: Africa is a treaty member of the international criminal court. If Putin comes here in August as planned your government will be obliged to arrest him. As head of the ANC, do you believe your government should and indeed will arrest [him]?
Fikile Mbalula: If it was according to the ANC we will want President Putin to be here even tomorrow. […]
You will welcome Vladimir Putin? Here, right now? A man who is being investigated for war crimes by the International Criminal Court?
We will welcome him to come here as part and person of BRICS. But we know that we are constrained by the ICC in terms of doing that. Putin is a head of state – do you think that a head of state can just be arrested anywhere? How many crimes have your country committed in Iraq? How many crimes have everyone else who so vocal today committed in Iraq and Afghanistan? Have you arrested them?
You know the impact, but these standard views …
You are making a lot of noise about Putin instead of working for peace between Ukraine and Russia and you failed to resolve the war. Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Tony Blair went to Iraq and claimed that there are weapons of mass destruction. Do they see anybody standing against that in the United Kingdom and Britain? More than… millions of people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and there are no weapons of mass destruction. We know what the war is about …
Mr Secretary General …
… between Russia and Ukraine. We want peace. That’s what is important. So that wealth can Thrive. And organs and institutions of the world that institute World Peace must not be conspicuous by their silence in deciding decisively …
[Distracting from the topic] We don’t have much time left… I want to bring it back to domestic South African politics before we end.
* Former South African minister of sport and current secretary-general of the African National Congress
Source: The Jimmy Dore Show https://youtu.be/K8q0hjga9o0 of 25 May 2023 (min. 1:15–3.17)