South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have agreed to host a delegation of African leaders to discuss a potential peace plan for the conflict in Ukraine.
“My discussions with the two leaders demonstrated that they are both ready to receive the African leaders and to have discussion on how this conflict can be brought to an end,” Ramaphosa said, according to DW. “Whether that will succeed or not is going to depend on the discussions that will be held.”
On top of Ramaphosa, the leaders of Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, the Republic of the Congo, and Zambia also support the plan. Ramaphosa did not give a timeline on when the visits to Moscow and Kyiv might happen.
The news of the African-led peace push comes as China has dispatched a senior envoy to visit Ukraine, Russia, and other countries in the region in an effort to foster dialogue. Li Hui, China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, was expected to arrive in Ukraine on Tuesday.
The US has not been happy with South Africa’s neutrality in the Ukraine conflict and recently accused Pretoria of aiding Russia. The US ambassador to South Africa claimed without evidence that a Russian ship that recently docked in the country was loaded with arms.
According to Ramaphosa, the US and Britain have expressed “cautious” support for the African-led peace push. The New York Times reported last week that US officials are “wary of any calls for an immediate ceasefire or peace talks.”
If this is an attempt by President Ramaphosa to avoid U.S. harassment over so called selling weapons to Russia, think again. BRICS system is an existential threat to U.S. dollar not staying neutral.
It’s interesting that the US waited several months to accuse South Africa of having smuggled weapons and ammunition. It suggests that the US doesn’t actually have any evidence or that it is phishing.
It also seems to be a remarkable coincidence that the accusation came at the same time South Africa announced that a BRICS currency would be discussed at the August 2023 meeting.
The June meeting is supposed to include discussions about allowing Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, UAE, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, Indonesia, and 5 other countries to join BRICS.
I suspect that South Africa borrowed a strategy laid out by China. When confronted, talk peace… because China’s peace plan threatens to soil the “our motives are entirely pure” image that Biden/Blinken have developed to convince others to prolong this war for as long as possible.
In any theater of operation against an opponent, you must plan ahead with moves, countermoves and consider alternative scenarios. South Africa is one of the original BRICS members that until recently was irrelevant until the dollar issue came up.
I’ve also heard rumors that the war in Libya was motivated by a determination to prevent Khadaffi from introducing a gold backed dinar to the counties of the African Union.
Iraq was another one before it was dumped on.
If this is an attempt by President Ramaphosa to avoid U.S. harassment over so called selling weapons to Russia, think again. BRICS system is an existential threat to U.S. dollar not staying neutral.
The more nations that become involved in seeking peace negotiations the more pressure will be put on the United States, who is the true obstacle to peace. This is a good sign.