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President Cyril Ramaphosa traveled to Poland today, Thursday 15 June 2023, on his way to Ukraine and the Russian Federation as part of his participation in the African peacekeeping mission aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
President Ramaphosa has spent the past two days attending the International Labor Organization’s World of Work Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
This afternoon, the president visited the Polish capital Warsaw to pay a courtesy call to President Andrzej Duda, who heads a country bordering Ukraine and Russia and has been deeply affected by the regional conflict.
President Ramaphosa is now heading to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for talks tomorrow – as a member of the African peacekeeping mission – with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The mission consists of the leaders of South Africa, Zambia, Comoros, Congo Brazzaville, Egypt, Senegal and Uganda, as representatives of a continent that has felt the adverse economic effects of the conflict.
President Ramaphosa has spoken in recent weeks with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, President Zelenskyy, President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, leaders of BRICS countries and the United Nations Secretary-General about efforts to establish a peaceful process the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, in accordance with South Africa’s status as a non-aligned state.
Later tomorrow, Friday, June 16, President Ramaphosa will leave Kiev for St. Petersburg, Russia, where the African delegation will meet with President Putin on Saturday, June 17.
President Ramaphosa is scheduled to return home on Sunday, June 18.
On the eve of the mission, President Ramaphosa said: “The human and negative economic impact and tension resulting from the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is a serious situation that affects us all in an interconnected world”.
“The African peacekeeping mission brings an African perspective and a call for a peace process to the deliberations underway in different parts of the world and within different formations of nations on how to handle the conflict in Ukraine and Russia.”
“We are pleased and encouraged by the openness with which the two presidents have committed to engaging with African leaders on this issue. Our own experience shows that it is precisely in times of escalated conflict that the search for peace must also be accelerated. This peace initiative should be seen as complementary to other peace initiatives put forward by other parties. The strength of this mission is that African leaders enter into dialogue with both parties.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of the Presidency: Republic of South Africa.
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