Sat 29 July 2023:
President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia and the African leaders attending a summit in Saint Petersburg had agreed to promote a multipolar world order.
Participants signed a joint declaration that called for “the establishment of a more just, balanced and stable multipolar world order, firmly opposing all types of international confrontation in the African continent.”
The Russian president also said the leaders had agreed to improve cooperation on aid, energy and trade, including by “consistently switching to national currencies for commercial transactions.”
AU chairman says war in Ukraine ‘must end’
On the second day of the Russia-Africa summit, African leaders have expressed concern over the consequences of the war in Ukraine, especially rising food prices.
“This war must end, and it can only end on the basis of justice and reason,” African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told Putin and African leaders in St Petersburg.
“The disruptions of energy and grain supplies must end immediately. The grain deal must be extended for the benefit of all the peoples of the world, Africans in particular,” he said, referring to an agreement that allowed Ukraine to safely export farm products from its Black Sea ports.
African nations proposed a peace plan that includes a Russian troop pullback, removal of Russian tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Putin and sanctions relief.
African Union chair says Putin’s grain offer not enough, ceasefire needed
The chair of the African Union has said in a closing address to a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg that proposals by Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide grain to Africa are not sufficient and that a ceasefire in Ukraine is needed.
“The president of Russia demonstrated that he is ready to help us in the field of grain supply,” Azali Assoumani said. “Yes, this is important, but it may not be quite enough. We need to achieve a ceasefire.”
Putin told the African leaders that Russia was ready to supply Africa with grain, some of it for free, after refusing last week to extend the Black Sea grain initiative, which had permitted Ukraine to export grain safely from its seaports despite the war.
Russia, African countries agree to seek compensation for damage from colonialism
Russia and African countries have agreed to cooperate to seek compensation for the damage caused by colonialism and to pursue the return of cultural artefacts, according to the final declaration of a Russia-Africa summit, published on the Kremlin’s website.
They agreed “to contribute to the completion of the process of decolonisation of Africa and to seek compensation for the economic and humanitarian damage caused to African States as a result of colonial policies, including restitution of cultural artefacts taken away in the process of colonial plunder,” the declaration says.
Both sides also agreed to oppose any discrimination and intolerance, including “aggressive nationalism, neo-Nazism and neo-fascism, afrophobia, russophobia”.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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