African nations plan Russia-Ukraine peace mission, Ramaphosa says

African nations proposed a peace initiative to help bring an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

A delegation of African heads of state plan to travel to Moscow and Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, to present the plan, Ramaphosa said at a joint media briefing with visiting Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Cape Town on Tuesday.

“This peace mission will contribute to the various other missions to bring a close to this conflict,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa first announced in March 2022 that his government had been asked to “play a mediation role” in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He didn’t identify who made the request, saying only that the approach was based on its relations with Russia and as a member of Brics, the five-nation bloc that also includes Brazil, India and China.

A top Chinese diplomat was scheduled to visit Ukraine on Tuesday, hours after Ukrainian air defenses successfully intercepted what officials described as an exceptionally intense Russian missile attack on the capital, Kyiv. The visit comes a month after Chinese President Xi Jinping announced he would send an envoy to Kyiv, after coming under pressure from Western powers for failing to condemn Putin’s war.

Ramaphosa held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 12 and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy the following day. The South African leader has also faced criticism from the US and other Western allies for its refusal to back their criticism of the conflict.

© 2023 Bloomberg