The African Peace Initiative includes a clause on food security

Russia is blocking Ukrainian ports in order to get rid of a competitor on the food market, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes.

“We organized a ‘grain initiative’, we turned to international organizations and leaders who gave us money, a fund, to send (agricultural products), by the way, to most of your countries we sent them for free. This is what we did. And this is not the result of a crisis or a conflict between the two countries. These are the consequences of Russia’s blockade of our ports,” Zelensky said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday after meeting with leaders of the African Union.

They did this “to sell their agricultural products themselves and to avoid competition from Ukraine, such a large supplier,” the President emphasized.

Zelensky also pointed out that “Russia did not allow any grain sea corridor, until, by the way, we unilaterally de-occupied our Zmeinyi Island and until we received appropriate weapons that would guarantee the security of our ports.”

He reiterated that “good words or good steps towards the President of the Russian Federation cannot stop his aggression. I believe, on the contrary, diplomatic isolation, to show that the whole world understands that he is an aggressor and a terrorist, and his entourage are war criminals, just like him. I believe that this is what can be serious and affect his society. We have to do this, to influence his society so that they realize that they are isolated.” 

Tags: Africa, food security, Black Sea grain corridor, South Africa