PICTURED: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa greets ambassadors from the BRICS nations. PC: @ Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Twitter.

Conflict could have been avoided

On March 17th, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa answered questions before Parliament during which he blamed NATO for the conflict in Ukraine, and said that his administration had been asked to mediate a potential end to the conflict.

“The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region,” Ramaphosa said.

He claimed he doesn’t pretend to believe that his country can influence the decisions that others make but theorized that South Africa could “play a role”.

Now, a group of African leaders is expected to visit Moscow and Kyiv to put forward peace proposals. The plan was first announced by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and the initiative will be led by Senegalese President Macky Sall.

“We have been talking about as African leaders because we concluded that that conflict in that part of the world, much as it does not affect Africa directly in the form of deaths and destruction to infrastructure, it does have an impact on the lives of many Africans with regard to food security, the prices of fertilizers have gone up, the prices of cereals have gone up and the prices of fuel,” said President Ramaphosa during a press conference in Singapore.

Ramaphosa said he spoke to presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, who agreed that they would be willing to receive a mission of the African heads of state in both their capitals, Moscow and Kyiv.

In a speech on Friday the 2nd of June, in Finland, America’s top diplomat said America would continue arming Ukraine to ensure the killing can continue.

“Some countries will call for a ceasefire. And on the surface, that sounds sensible – attractive, even. After all, who doesn’t want warring parties to lay down their arms? Who doesn’t want the killing to stop?” He said. “But a ceasefire that simply freezes current lines in place and enables Putin to consolidate control over the territory he’s seized… It would legitimize Russia’s land grab. It would reward the aggressor and punish the victim”. WaL

PICTURED ABOVE: Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto represents the most recent nation to offer a peace proposal for Ukraine and Russia. PC: Ministero di Defesa.