Ukraine: France welcomes the "peace effort" of the African mission

June 19, 2023

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna hailed Monday in Pretoria a “welcome” African peace mission in Russia and Ukraine, despite a lackluster record on the return to the continent of African leaders.

A delegation comprising several African Heads of State including Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), Macky Sall (Senegal), Hakainde Hichilema (Zambia) and Azali Assoumani (Comoros and President of the African Union), as well as Congolese and Ugandan representatives and Egyptian, traveled to Kiev and Saint Petersburg at the end of last week.

They spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian Head of State Vladimir Putin, submitting a ten-point plan to end “the war”. These proposals include in particular a “de-escalation on both sides”, the lifting of obstacles to the export of cereals via the Black Sea and the “release of prisoners of war”.

The Ukrainian president rejected the offer of mediation, on the grounds that “allowing negotiation with Russia now, when the occupier is on our land, means freezing the war”. The Kremlin for its part judged the plan presented by the African delegation “very difficult to implement”.

“Any effort for peace is positive if it seeks to restore the principles of the Charter of the United Nations (?) with this objective of just and lasting peace”, declared Ms. Colonna during a press conference in Pretoria, however, eluding journalists’ questions about the proximity of South Africa and Russia.

Pretoria has refused to condemn Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, claiming to adopt a neutral position and want to promote dialogue, which irritates many partners on the international scene.

The head of South African diplomacy Naledi Pandor denied, during this joint press conference, rumors that the African peace plan includes the proposal to cancel the proceedings against Mr. Putin: “It is not question,” she said.

Vladimir Putin is the subject of an international arrest warrant for the war crime of “deporting” Ukrainian children as part of Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine.

This arrest warrant embarrasses Pretoria, which is supposed to arrest the Russian president if he sets foot on its soil, as planned at the Brics summit it hosts in August.

Africa is hard hit by the increase in food prices and the consequences of the Russian offensive on world trade.

Ms. Colonna also signed during her visit an agreement on “bilateral cooperation in matters of corruption” with South Africa. It aims to train special anti-corruption units from southern African countries in the fight against cybercrime, within a regional school, which should be created by early 2024. France has already trained 22 South African experts as part of this project.