Cape Town — The European leaders whose forces are engaged in the heaviest fighting between two nations on the continent for more than 70 years have rebuffed an attempt by African leaders to launch a peace mission.
The African leaders who travelled to Kyiv in Ukraine on Friday and St Petersburg in Russia on Saturday were President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President Azali Assoumani of the Comoros (who is also the current president of the African Union), President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli of Egypt.
In a meeting on Friday with the five leaders, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected any prospect of a ceasefire.
In a comment reflecting Ukraine's view that a ceasefire would entrench Russia's hold on land won in an invasion, he was reported by Reuters as saying that "to allow any negotiations with Russia now while the occupier is on our land is to freeze the war, to freeze everything: pain and suffering...
"We need real peace, and therefore, a real withdrawal of Russian troops from our entire independent land."
For his part, President Vladimir Putin of Russia challenged the basis of the African peace proposals.
After Ramaphosa had implicitly questioned the legitimacy of Russian's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – saying that the African leaders "recognise the sovereignty of countries in terms of the UN Charter" – Putin reportedly replied that Ukraine and its Western allies had started the conflict long before Russia invaded.
Ramaphosa presented to both European leaders what he called a 10-point peace plan, which he said was not presented in competition with other peace proposals.
"The war cannot go on forever," he told Putin. "All wars have to be settled and come to an end at some stage and we are here to communicate a very clear message that we would like this war to be ended. We say so because this war is having a negative impact on the African continent and indeed on many other countries around the world."
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The prices of commodities, especially of grain and fertilizer, and of fuel had been driven up by the war, Ramaphosa added.
The African leaders also called for security guarantees for all countries, for the freer movement of grain across the Black Sea and humanitarian support for the war's victims.
In addition they urged both sides to release prisoners and facilitate the return of children to their families. (Putin and his commissioner for children's rights are under indictment by the International Criminal Court for the alleged deportation to Russia of Ukrainian children.)
During Friday's stop in Kyiv, Russia launched missiles at the Ukrainian capital. Ramaphosa said this did not deter the mission. "It is precisely that type of event that we saw today... that makes us call for de-escalation," he was reported as saying.
Concluding his remarks to Putin, he said the mission was historic.
"The African continent represented here through these seven countries (Uganda and the Republic of the Congo were also involved in the planning) has never really been involved in a mission of this sort. So we would like to say that we've taken this step, believing that, yes, we can contribute..."
