Excerpts from the text of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s presentation on behalf of African leaders to President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Saturday June 17, as broadcast by South Africa’s eNCA channel. The other members of the delegation were President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Azali Assoumani of the Comoros (and current President of the African Union), President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli of Egypt. They had visited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the previous day.
The war cannot go on forever. 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. As a continent, we are being negatively affected in terms of our economies. The prices of commodities have gone up, particularly grain and fertilizer, and the prices of fuel have also gone up, and this is a consequence of the war that is ongoing. And it is for this reason that we are also here, that it is in our collective interest that the war should come to an end.
The third point we would like to put forward is that we would like to see a de-escalation of the conflict. The escalation of the conflict on both sides does not enhance the peace process, so we would like to see the conflict being dis-escalated (sic) as we find a way to peace.
The fourth point, which has also been covered in a number of other proposals, is that we recognise the sovereignty of countries in terms of the UN Charter, and yes, in terms of that charter, we believe that all of us should work in terms of internationally-recognized principles, and it is for that reason that we would like to submit that we recognize the sovereignty of countries in terms of that charter.
This is the time for both parties to negotiate – to negotiate an end to this war, because this war is causing a great deal of instability and harm to various countries around the world. And we as African countries are feeling the impact of this war.
So this is what we have come here to share with you. And I’d like to end by saying this is a historic mission. The African continent represented here through these seven countries 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 and we’d like to thank you for giving us the time to listen to what we’ve got to say, but more importantly, we want to listen to you as well.