2023-07-22 08:30:15
7/22/2023-|Last update: 7/22/202311:25 AM (Mecca Time)
The UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, warned of the rise in global grain prices, and of the catastrophic consequences of the risk of widening the conflict, which may include the possibility of famine, while Washington affirmed its intention to search for alternatives to export Ukrainian grain.
Griffiths told the Security Council that food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia are of paramount importance to ensuring global food security.
He also explained that “the destruction of the vital infrastructure of Ukrainian ports can amount to a violation of international human rights, and in sum, food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia are still of paramount importance to ensuring global food security.”
“Some will go hungry, some will starve, and many may die as a result of these decisions,” Griffiths said, adding that 362 million people in 69 countries currently need humanitarian assistance.
“Therefore, the United Nations will continue its cooperation with all concerned parties to ensure that Ukrainian and Russian food and fertilizers reach global markets, and we must also ensure low prices and enhance food security in the world… We need united international support,” he added.
The UN Security Council had discussed the repercussions of Russia’s withdrawal from the grain export agreement, and parties warned – during the session – of the risk of a conflict as a result of any military incident in the Black Sea.
In the same context, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken accused Russia of manipulating food in order to achieve its goals in Ukraine.
Blinken indicated – in a dialogue session at the “Aspen” Security Forum in Colorado – that his country is considering with its allies options for exporting grain from Ukraine.
But he warned that alternative means of exporting Ukrainian grain to world markets “is likely to be insufficient,” without elaborating.
Cereal price hike
For his part, Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy delegate to the UN, renewed the warning to all ships heading to the Black Sea and Ukrainian ports, as well as to countries whose flag is raised on these ships.
Polyansky also mentioned that the humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea has expired on the twentieth of this month.
Russia announced its withdrawal from the agreement to export grain across the Black Sea last Monday, saying that its demands related to subsidizing its exports of foodstuffs and fertilizers were not met, and it also criticized the lack of sufficient quantities of Ukrainian grain to reach the poor countries.
US wheat futures rose in Chicago by more than 6% this week, and achieved its largest daily gain – Wednesday – since the start of the war in February 2022, but some of these gains were diminished (yesterday Friday) due to hopes pinned on Russia’s resumption of its talks on the agreement.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered the agreement last year, in an effort to address the global food crisis, which has worsened because Russia and Ukraine are two of the largest grain exporters.
The United Nations said the Black Sea agreement was a commercial process, benefiting poor countries by helping to reduce food prices by more than 23% around the world since March 2022.
The United Nations World Food Program has transported 725,000 tons of Ukrainian grain to Afghanistan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
But Mikhail Khan, a macroeconomist who has been asked by Russia to address the Security Council, said the poorest countries received only 3 percent of grain through Ukraine, according to UN data.
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