Mozambican president, Filipe Nyusi, on Wednesday offered Russia’s foreign affairs minister his availability to do whatever he deems necessary to end the conflict with Ukraine.
The Mozambican head of state “offered his personal and Mozambican contribution to whatever Russia deems necessary to achieve peace and an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” said the minister of public works, Carlos Mesquita.
The minister summarised at a press conference, alongside Lavrov, the positions taken at the meeting between the Mozambican head of state and the leader of Russian diplomacy.
Nyusi’s willingness to meet with Lavrov comes after five days ago, in other words, when he told Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, Dmytro Kuleba, that he was willing to do the same.
At the time, Nyusi used the social network Facebook to declare “openness to help bring the two parties closer together, including hosting dialogue on national soil, with a view to achieving peace in Ukraine.”
Both Kuleba and Lavrov invited Nyusi to visit their respective countries, and in the case of Russia, the head of diplomacy has already set a date: he said a meeting is planned between the Mozambican president and Putin on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit to be held from 26 to 29 July in St. Petersburg.
Mozambique has been one of the countries that has remained neutral in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war, thus considering itself in the best position to call for dialogue to end the conflict, a message it has conveyed from its seat as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a two-year term that began in January.
Russia and Ukraine have responded, saying they respect Maputo’s position.
“Neutrality can take different forms,” but in meetings in Maputo, “I felt a strong sympathy and support – that it is not neutral, it is in favour of Ukraine,” Dmytro Kuleba said last week.
For his part, the Russian foreign minister said today he appreciated the fact that “Mozambique has its own position” in the face of what he classifies as “blackmail” by Western partners.
Nyusi takes a position in line with that of other African heads of state.
South African president Ciryl Ramaphosa and five other heads of state from the continent will travel to Russia and Ukraine in June to try to start peace talks between the two warring nations, a senior South African government official said last week.
Besides Ramaphosa, the delegation will include the presidents of Zambia, Senegal, the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazaville), Uganda and Egypt.
On the 16th, Ramaphosa announced the initiative and indicated that the presidents of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelensky, and Russia, Vladimir Putin, “agreed to host” the mission in Kiev and Moscow.
Sergei Lavrov was in Maputo as part of his tour of African countries.
The head of Russian diplomacy began his tour of Africa on Monday in Nairobi, where he met with Kenyan president William Ruto, and on Tuesday he was in Bujumbura, Burundi, where he met with his counterpart, Albert Shingiro.
Lavrov is attending a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group in Cape Town on Thursday and Friday, in preparation for the summit the African country is hosting in August.
The minister’s trip also comes ahead of the second Russia-Africa summit, which will be held in St Petersburg in July.
The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14.7 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced and more than 8.2 million to European countries – according to the latest UN figures.
The UN presented as confirmed since the start of the war, 8,895 civilians killed and 15,117 injured, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Lusa
