South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, heading an African mediation delegation on the Ukrainian conflict, told Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Saturday that “the war” must end in Ukraine.
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“War cannot last forever (…). We want this war to end”, he declared, during a meeting between the master of the Kremlin and the African mediators in Saint Petersburg (north-west of Russia).
“It is in our common interest that this war end,” he insisted, stressing that African countries are “negatively affected” by this conflict.
AFP
In addition to Mr. Ramaphosa, the delegation includes three other presidents: Macky Sall (Senegal), Hakainde Hichilema (Zambia) and Azali Assoumani (Comoros), current president of the African Union, as well as Congolese, Ugandan and Egyptian representatives.
This delegation arrived to meet Mr. Putin in Russia after a trip the day before to Kyiv for discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We are here to hear you, to hear the voice of the Russian people,” Comoros President Azali Assoumani said.
“We are here to convince the two countries to take the path of dialogue,” he added.