African Heads of State to Present Peace Initiative to Russia and Ukraine

South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, says a delegation of African leaders will soon travel to Russia and Ukraine to present a peace plan.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of the planned trip came Tuesday during a media briefing with visiting Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

He said a group of African heads of state want to put forward a peace initiative that could contribute to a solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“We have been talking about as African leaders because we concluded that that conflict in that part of the world, much as it does not affect Africa directly in the form of deaths and destruction to infrastructure, it does have an impact on the lives of many Africans with regard to food security, the prices of fertilizers have gone up, the prices of cereals have gone up and the prices of fuel,” he said.

Ramaphosa said he spoke to presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, who agreed that they would be willing to receive a mission of the African heads of state in both their capitals, Moscow and Kyiv.

In addition to South Africa, Zambia, Senegal, Congo Brazzaville, Uganda and Egypt are all part of the initiative. The talks have been facilitated by the Brazzaville Foundation, a London-based non-profit organization that focuses on conflict resolution

Ramaphosa said preparations for the meetings to take place as soon as possible have already begun. Both the secretary-general of the United Nations and African Union have been briefed on the plan.