After the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Held Talk with the Russian President in the month of April this Year, then comes the tour of the AU Chairman. On a special Invitation from Kremlin by Vladimir Putin the Russian President, the current chairman of AU (African Union), and President of Senegal accompanied by the chairman of the African union commission Chadian Moussa Faki Mahamat are in Sochi, for a Brief Tête-à-tête with the Russian counterpart on matters concerning Ukraine/ Russian grain and fertilizers shortages faced by the African market as per an official statement by President Mack Sall’s Bureau. Received by the Russian President, Africa through the voice of the chairman was able to lay their plight to Kremlin.
Objectives of President Macky SALL’s Visit
Release of stocks of grains and stocks of fertilizer: According to the Kremlin, Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi during a call last week that Moscow “is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the export of grain and fertilizer on the condition that politically motivated restrictions imposed by the West are lifted.”
Source Africanews
Russian and Ukraine are Known to be the Number one exporter of grains to the rest of the world including Africa. Africa alone accounts for more than 44% of imported wheat from Russia and Ukraine according to a Report by UN (2016-2020). The Russian Ukraine War has caused so much Havoc to the Global Economy especially after the sanctions by the west on Russia.
AU Chairman warns Kremlin of a forth coming African food Crises if no immediate and drastic measure are taken by Russia to curb the situation. Given the high level of demand of cereals in African countries as the a majority of the population depends on cereals, President Macky SALL fears the threat is very imminent.
Some of the repercussions of the War are already felt in most African countries with prices hikes in the Prices of these Products. A sample case would be the current situation in Senegal where the Prices of these grains and Fertilizers have seen their prices soaring up to about 80 percent. Most Government in these countries faced by price hikes of these basic commodities helps in providing Subventions to cover the increased cost of these Product for it to be within the reach of the common citizen.
Other examples of countries facing Price hikes is Guinea currently faced with soaring prices up to about 20 percent. This Deplorable situation has caused profits for dealers in cereal and fertilizers to drop by about 20- 50 percent. According to the chairman of AU, this problem comes to add to the already many existing problems faced by Africa such as famine, floods and droughts, Crime and violence.
Return to Peace and Stability Between Russia and Ukraine: President Macky SALL has always advocated for a Peaceful resolution of the Conflict between these two countries in every Mediatic outings aimed at getting His View on the current war Situation.
This was even further amplified when Senegal voted for a second resolution on March 24 demanding that Russia stop the war immediately, after abstaining on March 2 in the UN General Assembly vote in favor of a resolution demanding “that Russia immediately cease the use of force against Ukraine.
AU chairman even explained during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Dakar at the end of May This year that the conflict “affects” Africans, but is taking place “on another continent. However, he said he “condemns the invasion” more explicitly than in the past.
The Talks between Putin and SALL
During Friday’s meeting, Sall reminded Putin that 17 African countries abstained from voting on the U.N. resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine, despite what he described as strong pressure to do so.
“If you take Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, it means that there is a good part of humanity which is in fact very attentive to what is happening.”
President Macky SALL
“It is in the name of all these hopes that I have come to see you, to ask you to understand that our countries – even if they are far from the theatre [of action] – are victims on an economic level,”
Russia on its part attributes blames on the West with regards to the grain and fertilizer shortages experienced by the African Market. According To Kremlin, the west exacerbated the problem and further say’s the food sector was to be exempted of all sanctions. Kremlin denied all accusations of blocking Ukrainian ports to halt exports and urged the west to uplift the sanctions.
Reactions
According to Some analyst, African Countries haven’t sided due to their high level of dependency on the Ukrainian -Russian grains and fertilizers.
“In the same spirit, the African Union has accepted the request of President Volodymyr Zelensky to address a message to the organization by video conference, the date and modalities of which will be mutually agreed upon,” they said.