President Cyril Ramaphosa meets with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg. Picture: Reuters
By Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for an end to the war in Ukraine.
Ramaphosa, who was addressing Russian leader Vladimir Putin, said a solution has to be found to the conflict and this could be done through negotiations.
He said the war has been going on for too long and it was time both sides sat around the negotiating table.
The war has had an impact on the African continent with increases in food and fuel prices.
But other parts of the world have also been affected by the war.
Ramaphosa was part of a group of African leaders who met with Putin on Saturday in St Petersburg after they had met with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Kyiv the day before.
Ramaphosa presented a peace plan to Putin in which he said the African leaders had developed.
He believed that it was time to end the war as it would not benefit any of the parties in the end, adding that the war cannot go on forever.
It was in this regard that a solution has to be found to end it.
“The second point we would like to raise, the key element of our broad proposal is that we do firmly believe that the war must be settled and it must be settled through negotiations and through diplomatic means. A war cannot go on forever. All wars have to be settled and come to an end at some stage. We are here to communicate a clear message that we would like this war to be ended. We say so because this war is having a negative impact on the African continent and indeed many other countries around the world,” said Ramaphosa.
He added that the prices of food and fuel have gone up because of the war, impacting the lives of the people.
Ramaphosa said in their meeting with Zelensky on Friday they tabled similar proposals.
He said they are aware that the peace plan that the African leaders have put forward was not the first one.
There have been other countries that have made similar proposals to both sides.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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