“We are trying to explain to our African friends that neutrality is not the (appropriate) response,” Kouleba said from Addis Ababa, home to the African Union.
An appeal to African countries to abandon “neutrality” in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, addressed today from Ethiopia, the second stop of his African tour after Morocco.
“We are trying to explain to our African friends that neutrality is not the (appropriate) response,” Kouleba said from Addis Ababa, home to the African Union.
In February, 22 of the African Union’s 54 member states opted to abstain in a vote on a draft UN General Assembly resolution calling on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. Two members – Eritrea and Mali – had voted against.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the leadership of the African Union.
“In Africa some have sympathy for Russia,” recalling their support during the Soviet Union, Kuleba said, but recalling that Ukraine (as a member of the USSR) “hosted thousands of African students” and sent “thousands of engineers” to African countries.
Today Russia is “very different”, the Ukrainian foreign minister said, arguing that “Russia’s biggest real investment in Africa is Wagner’s mercenaries”.
Pointing out that Russia is “not even in the middle, let alone at the top” of the list of countries providing humanitarian aid to Africa, Kuleba promised that Ukraine will always be on the side of African countries on food security issues.
Source :Skai
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