Six African leaders launch peace mission to Moscow and Kyiv to end ‘devastating’ war

Six African leaders plan to spearhead and facilitate what they hope could be the beginning of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv more than one year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Tuesday (16 May) that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had agreed to meet a group of African leaders to discuss a potential peace plan for the conflict. Six African leaders plan to travel to Moscow and Kyiv “as soon as is possible” to help find a resolution to the war, Ramaphosa said. The South African leader said he had presented the peace initiative, which was drawn up by Zambia, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa, separately to Putin and Zelenskyy over the weekend. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the African Union (AU) have been briefed on the initiative and welcomed it, while the United States and the United Kingdom expressed “cautious” support for the proposal, according to Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa did not give a specific timeline for the visit or other details, saying only that the conflict had been “devastating” and Africa “is also suffering a great deal” from it. African countries have been badly hit by rising prices of grain and by the impact to world trade. The war has largely reached a stalemate, although Ukraine is expected to start a counteroffensive soon to try to take back land occupied by Russia. Considered one of Moscow’s closest allies on the continent, South Africa says it is impartial and has abstained from voting on UN resolutions on the war.