Ukraine tells African mission no peace talks with Russia before
withdrawal
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[June 17, 2023]
By Pavel Polityuk and Olena Harmash
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after
meeting African leaders in Kyiv on Friday that peace talks with Russia
would be possible only after Moscow withdraws its forces from occupied
Ukrainian territory.
And Zelenskiy said he failed to understand what could be gained from the
leaders meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in St
Petersburg, Russia's second city.
"...This is their decision, how logical it is, I don't really
understand," he told reporters.
Zelenskiy's comments signalled no change in Ukraine's long-held stance
on peace talks, despite the African delegation's hopes of mediating an
end to the war that has raged since Russia's full-scale invasion in
February 2022.
"To allow any negotiations with Russia now while the occupier is on our
land is to freeze the war, to freeze everything: pain and suffering,"
Zelenskiy told a joint press conference with the delegation.
"We need real peace, and therefore, a real withdrawal of Russian troops
from our entire independent land."
Ukraine stood by its own peace initiative, based on a complete Russian
withdrawal, but invited the African leaders to take part in an
international peace summit that is being drawn up.
The delegation, including leaders of Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, South
Africa and the Comoros, met Zelenskiy after being greeted in Kyiv by a
volley of Russian missiles.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the leaders had come "to
share the African perspective" and saw talks with Russia as part of the
mission.
He recalled that South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela favoured
negotiations and that "even when the conflict becomes most intense, that
is when peace should be made".
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African Heads of State and Government,
including South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, participating in
the African Leaders Peace Mission, hold a consultation while en
route from Warsaw to Kyiv by train, 15 June 2023 Government
Communication and Information Services (GCIS)/Handout via REUTERS
CALL FOR FREE FLOW OF GRAIN
The President of the Comoro Islands, Azali Assoumani, current chair
of the African Union, said the leaders had no right to steer clear
of negotiations.
"It is not in our interest to simply do nothing. That would be
cowardly," he told reporters. "This discussion is absolutely
necessary. Let me assure you: we understand your pain. We have lived
through it. And we will have a discussion with Putin."
With Kyiv and Moscow courting the Global South, the African leaders
see a chance to mediate in a war that has hit African countries by
disrupting grain and other food supplies and aggravating price
inflation.
Ramaphosa said African countries were prepared to participate
further in a peace pact in Ukraine, and called for the free flow of
grain. Ukraine is a major global producer and exporter in peacetime.
African nations have largely remained neutral on the Ukraine war.
Some, notably South Africa, received support from the Soviet Union
for their independence movements and have cordial relations with
Russia, but most have closer economic links with the United States
and Europe.
The African leaders are seeking agreement on a series of "confidence
building measures" even as Ukraine last week began a
counteroffensive to push back Russian forces from Ukrainian
territory they occupy.
The Kremlin has played down the chances of meaningful peace talks
with Kyiv. It says conditions for a peace process are not in place,
but that it is ready to listen and is open to outside initiatives.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Olena Harmash; Additional reporting
by Anna Pruchnicka and Tom Balmforth in Kyiv, Joe Bavier in
Johannesburg; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Timothy Heritage and Grant
McCool)
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