The President-in-Office of the African Union (AU), Macky Sall, congratulated, on Saturday July 23 on Twitter, the Turkish Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as the SG of the UN, “ for the signing this July 22 in Istanbul, of the Agreements on the export of cereals and agricultural products”.
“That was the objective of the mission I led to Sochi on June 3,” he continued. An AU statement also considers that this agreement is “a response” to Macky Sall’s visit to Russia last June, who was accompanied by Moussa Faki, chairman of the AU commission.
The two men had then signified to Putin “the urgency of the return of cereals from Ukraine and Russia to world markets”, according to the press release which also mentions that the agreement signed between the two countries in conflict constitutes a “welcome development for the continent which is threatened by significant risk of famine.
Concretely, between 20 and 25 million tonnes of grain, blocked in Ukraine since the Russian invasion, should be exported through “secure corridors” to allow the circulation in the Black Sea of merchant ships, which Russia and Ukraine pledged “not to attack”.
Aiming further, the AU reiterated its “call for an immediate ceasefire agreement and the opening of new political negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations in the interest of global peace and stability”, according to the same source.
If the agreement was welcomed by several countries and NGOs, missiles that targeted the Ukrainian port of Odessa on the Black Sea the next day also caused a reaction from Western powers such as the United States or Germany.
kyiv has accused Putin of “spitting in the face” of the UN and Turkey by attacking Odessa. For President Zelensky, “this only proves one thing: whatever Russia says and promises, it will find ways not to implement it”.
The move “undermines the work of the UN, Turkey and Ukraine to get much-needed food to world markets,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, accusing Russia and condemned the attack.
But, Russia reportedly told Turkish authorities that it had “absolutely nothing to do with this attack” and was looking into the matter “very carefully and in detail”.
By OMA Newsletter N° 791 of 07/25/2022
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
