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24-05-2023
KYIV: Ukraine’s foreign minister has begun a tour of African countries, stepping up wartime Kyiv’s diplomatic push to challenge Russian influence in the Global South and cement the vision laid out by Ukraine as the only path to peace.
Top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday his main priority was to get African countries to endorse President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace plan as he travelled to Morocco on his second tour of Africa since Russia invaded in February last year.
“Important negotiations lie ahead with African leaders and business,” he wrote on Instagram, saying he aimed to win support for the uninterrupted flow of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea and secure new openings for Ukrainian business.
The tour follows three days of diplomacy by Zelenskyy at the Arab League on Friday and then at a Group of Seven summit in Japan. As well as G7 leaders, he met those of India, Indonesia, Iraq and the Saudi crown prince during his travels.
Political analysts say Ukraine is accelerating its push to court the Global South, a term meaning Latin America, Africa and much of Asia and that the effort has taken on greater importance as rival peace proposals to end the war in Ukraine have popped up in other capitals.
China, which has touted its own peace plan, sent a top envoy to Kyiv, Moscow and European capitals to discuss a “political settlement” this month. South Africa said last week Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to discuss a peace plan with African leaders. The Vatican also fleshed out a peace mission this month.
“The urgency is because of these peace plans which are popping up,” said Alyona Getmanchuk, a political expert who heads the New Europe Center, a think tank in Kyiv.
“At some point, Ukraine realized that it had underperformed in the Global South for many, many years,” said Getmanchuk.
Ukraine says Zelenskyy’s 10-point “peace formula”, which envisages the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian land, must be the basis for any settlement of the war launched by Russia.
Speaking at the G7 over the weekend, Zelenskyy proposed holding a global peace summit in July to promote the formula. Denmark’s foreign minister said on Monday that Copenhagen would be prepared to host it. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
