Ukraine restores relations with Africa
Ukraine will welcome any type of support from friendly African countries – whether humanitarian assistance in light of Tuesday’s Kakhovka dam disaster - donation or sale of weapons to help its troops fend off the Russian aggression.
In a virtual address to the African Media Wednesday this week, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed confidence that they would eventually win the protracted war. He said the fact that Ukraine has held its own against the Russian army for this long - initially without support from anyone - is testimony that Ukraine is a mighty military power.
“This is a war for our freedom and our right to make sovereign choices, for the right to live in our land in accordance with the United Nations Charter,” he said, pleading with Africans not to believe “Russian propaganda” that claims this is a geopolitical game or a proxy war.
The Ukrainian foreign minister’s address to African Media follows his trip to five African countries – Morocco, Ethiopia, Algeria, Rwanda and Mozambique - part of a grand scheme the country is devising to reclaim its historical ties with Africa under what it calls a Ukraine-Africa Renaissance.
In fact, under this plan Ukraine plans to open ten (10) new embassies in Africa to entrench its diplomatic presence with progress already underway in Algeria and Mozambique, the foreign minister said. Ukraine is ready to share its agricultural expertise with Africa and to increase the grain volume it exports to Africa in spite of obstacles placed by Russia. As Europe’s leader in digitalisation, Ukraine is ready to share its digital governance with Africa by sending specialists in technology to Africa.
Kuleba said they will also welcome African students to come and study in Ukraine if they are ready to take the risk. Ukraine’s policy is clear – it will regard any country that sends weapons to Russia as an “accomplice” in the aggression and any country that supports Ukraine, is fighting aggression.
Kuleba believes that most African countries that support Russia are forced to and if they had any choice they would not do it. Asked about the possibility of South Africa moving the August BRICS Summit to China in order to avoid being placed in an awkward position of having to execute the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against President Putin, Kuleba said that was a decision for South Africa to make.
However, he made it clear that he did not care about BRICS or where its Summit is held but that rules (Rome Statute) should be respected. He believes that the more President Putin is isolated and finds it difficult to travel anywhere, the closer it will be for the war to end. He also appealed to African countries to support President Zelensky’s Peace Plan.