At the two-day summit, President Cyril Ramaphosa was joined by President Azali Assoumani of the Comoros in his capacity as chair of the AU, Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah-el Sisi, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and the foreign minister of Zambia Stanley Kakubo.
It was the second meeting between the seven leaders and Putin. The first meeting took place in June when the leaders undertook a peace mission to Kyiv and St Petersburg in a bid to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.
During their meeting the leaders said they recognised progress achieved since June on the proposals they discussed on humanitarian issues, particularly related to the rights of children in areas of armed activities and prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, and agreed that humanitarian efforts would continue to bring further results.
Last week Reuters reported that Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin said no talks on resuming the Black Sea grain export deal were under way.
The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey last July, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing grain blocked by the war in Ukraine to be safely exported.
Russia announced it was withdrawing from the deal last month.
TimesLIVE
African leaders want immediate release of Russian fertiliser from EU ports
Image: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko
The UN should take the necessary action to release 200,000 tonnes of Russian fertiliser blocked in EU seaports for immediate and free delivery to African countries.
This was the call made by the African leaders spearheading the peace initiative to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday. In a statement, the leaders also called for the full resumption of the Black Sea grain deal.
“The leaders called for specific steps to remove obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports, thus allowing the resumption of the full implementation of the Black Sea package initiative of the UN secretary-general as endorsed on July 22 2022 in Istanbul,” the leaders said.
The statement follows a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the second Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg last week.
Russia-Africa Summit: five things African leaders must achieve
At the two-day summit, President Cyril Ramaphosa was joined by President Azali Assoumani of the Comoros in his capacity as chair of the AU, Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah-el Sisi, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and the foreign minister of Zambia Stanley Kakubo.
It was the second meeting between the seven leaders and Putin. The first meeting took place in June when the leaders undertook a peace mission to Kyiv and St Petersburg in a bid to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.
During their meeting the leaders said they recognised progress achieved since June on the proposals they discussed on humanitarian issues, particularly related to the rights of children in areas of armed activities and prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, and agreed that humanitarian efforts would continue to bring further results.
Last week Reuters reported that Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin said no talks on resuming the Black Sea grain export deal were under way.
The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey last July, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing grain blocked by the war in Ukraine to be safely exported.
Russia announced it was withdrawing from the deal last month.
TimesLIVE
READ MORE:
African leaders tell Putin: 'We have a right to call for peace'
Bold Ramaphosa takes a swipe at the West
Ukraine tells African mission no peace talks with Russia before withdrawal
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