The President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, Chairman-in-Office of the African Union, stressed on Tuesday that Africa should not take a position on the war in Ukraine, because it is working to restore peace with the two conflicting parties.
“On the war in Ukraine, we dwell on our positions. Africa does not have to line up. We are working with all the parties for peace, because we are also victims of this war,” declared the Head of State, whose remarks were reported by the Senegalese press agency APS.
Macky Sall, who was speaking at the world summit of governments which has been held since Monday in Dubai, under the theme of the summit: ”Shaping the governments of tomorrow”, recalled the trip he had made in June 2022 to Sochi (Russia) , during which he met with President Vladimir Putin.
The Senegalese leader believes that his Russian counterpart has respected the commitments he made during the interview. ”A month later, the cereal seeds came out through the Black Sea,” he said, referring to exports, particularly to Africa, of cereals from the two countries in conflict.
”We are continuing our mediation efforts,” added the president of the African Union, responding to criticisms aroused by the neutrality of most African states since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
During his meeting with Putin, Macky Sall had asked the latter to do everything possible to authorize the resumption of exports of Ukrainian cereals, the output of which had been blocked because of the war.
“Africa is getting organized to be food self-sufficient in five years,” said the Senegalese leader, deploring the inequity characterizing, according to him, global governance.