Africa leaders urged by Zelenskyy to pressure Russia for prisoner release | Latest News on Russia-Ukraine Conflict

African leaders have visited Ukraine as part of a “peace mission” to try to help end the country’s nearly 16-month-old war with Russia. The trip is seen as a crucial one as many African nations rely on food and fertiliser deliveries from Russia and Ukraine, whose war has jeopardised and impeded exports from one of the world’s most important breadbaskets. The delegation of African leaders includes the presidents of Comoros, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, as well as Egypt’s prime minister and top envoys from the Republic of Congo and Uganda. On Saturday, the group will travel to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the city of St Petersburg.

During a news conference held after the leaders met for closed-door talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “This conflict is affecting Africa negatively.” Zelenskyy urged the African leaders to help free political prisoners from Crimea and beyond, saying it would be an “important step”. The annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 was illegal.

Explosions rocked Kyiv as air raid sirens blared in the Ukrainian capital as the visit began. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter afterwards: “Putin ‘builds confidence’ by launching the largest missile attack on Kyiv in weeks, exactly amid the visit of African leaders to our capital. Russian missiles are a message to Africa: Russia wants more war, not peace.” Before their meeting with Zelenskyy, the African leaders visited Bucha, a Kyiv suburb where bodies of civilians lay scattered in the streets last year after Russian troops abandoned a campaign to seize the capital and withdrew from the area.

The peace mission could propose a series of “confidence-building measures” during initial efforts at mediation, according to a draft framework document seen by Reuters. Its measures could include a Russian pullback, removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus and suspension of the implementation of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting Putin. A ceasefire could follow and would need to be accompanied by negotiations between Russia and the West, the document stated.

Kyiv said its own plan, which envisages the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian land, must be the basis for any settlement of the war. Meanwhile, a diplomatic standoff continues between South African officials and Polish authorities in Warsaw. South Africa’s News 24 reported that the row began after a charter plane with presidential security and journalists landed in the Polish capital from Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon. Ramaphosa, who landed on a separate flight, had to travel to Kyiv by train with an unknown number of security personnel, while the plane is reportedly still stuck in Warsaw.

According to South African journalists at the scene, Polish authorities refused to let the South African security personnel leave the plane and threatened to confiscate 13 containers of weapons and equipment on it. In response, General Wally Rhoode, head of Ramaphosa’s security, called a news conference on the steps of the plane. “They are delaying us,” he said, accusing Polish authorities of “sabotage” and “racism”.

Original Story at www.aljazeera.com – 2023-06-16 20:26:15