 What USA and Europe couldn't do, Africa is on the verge of doing it. Welcome to Africa Reloaded, the best destination to insight on Africa's development and future. Following airstrikes in the city, a group of African leaders and officials from six nations arrived in Kiev to begin separate peace negotiations on the crisis in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This weekend, the heads of state of the Kamars, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia will depart from Kiev and arrive in St. Petersburg. Expanding access to Russian and Ukrainian grains and fertilizers to reduce food insecurity in Africa is anticipated to be at the top of the delegation's agenda, even if the specifics of the peace plan have not been made publicly known. Long term, many African nations' strategic non-alignment puts them in a good position to act as impartial peacemakers in the Ukraine war, but they are hindered by their lack of power. Hello guys, welcome to today's episode on our channel. We will be taking a look at the measures Africa is trying to put in place in order to bring an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia. Please take a few seconds to like this video before you continue to watch. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Mackie Saul of Senegal, Hecane Hechalima of Zambia, and Azali Asumani of the Comoros, the current chair of the African Union, are the four heads of state that are visiting Kiev and St. Petersburg. Top representatives for Egypt and Uganda have been sent. The driving force behind this peace endeavor is Jean-Yves Olivier, a French businessman and veteran peace negotiator who was instrumental in ending the South African border war. President Ramaphosa has served as the delegation's public face. Being the head of the delegation, South Africa must continue to balance keeping close connections with both the US and Russia. One of the most significant allies of the United States on the continent and Russia's closest ally in Africa are both largely regarded as being South Africa. The Soviet Union assisted the African National Congress, ANC-Lead Liberation Movement, during the apartheid era by giving its members military training. The ANC still controls South African politics some 30 years after the end of apartheid, and some ANC leaders still have warm feelings toward Russia's prior assistance to the anti-apartheid fight. Additionally in the present, the two nations are part of the BRICS Alliance, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. A potent alliance of strong economies with considerable influence on the world stage. USA and Europe's involvement in wars. USA and Europe have spent time focusing on the extraction of natural resources and colonial rule, rather than ensure peace as major superpowers. This is a major reason why nothing seems to be done regarding the war escalation between Russia and Ukraine. Rather, other wars are brooking out in Africa like Congo and Sudan, because of external rule 74% of the world's resource extraction between 1970 and 2017 was accounted for by the United States and the European Union, which is evident in the sharp increase in environmental degradation we are witnessing in the course of our changing climate. Logging, rock, oil, gas and other natural extraction, as well as fracking and other methods, are all examples of resource extraction. It can be acquired through boring drilling or other techniques. Researchers discovered that the United States and high-income nations in the European Union drove the lion's share of worldwide excess resource usage beyond boundaries of environmental sustainability. The examination included nearly 50 years of global resource extraction. Economic anthropologist Jason Hickel of Spain's Universitat Agnoma de Barcelona says the findings show that wealthy nations bear the overwhelming responsibility for global ecological breakdown and as a result owe an ecological debt to the rest of the world. South Africa conducted naval exercises with Russia and China in February of this year off the coast of Durban, attracting harsh criticism from nations supporting Ukraine. The United States and South Africa got into a diplomatic dispute in May when the latter claimed that the former had shipped weapons to Russia. Overall, since the commencement of the war in Ukraine, South Africa's delicate diplomatic dance to win over both the U.S. and Russia has been all but impossible. Despite South Africa's stated neutral attitude toward the conflict in Ukraine, recent developments and historical linkages have called its neutrality into question. South Africa intends to dispel claims of bias toward Russia by yeeting this peace delegation. Africa's two policy approaches to the war in Ukraine. African countries who have taken positions against Russia's war in Ukraine and those that have maintained a policy of strategic non-lignment can broadly be divided into two groups based on how they have handled the conflict over the past year and a half. Mali and Eritrea are two of the few nations that have openly backed Russia's conflict. The two strategies adopted by African nations are illustrated by three crucial UNGA votes. With about half of African nations voting in favor and the other half either electing to abstain or not participating in the vote, two resolutions denouncing Russia's invasion of Ukraine were approved by the UNGA. Only Eritrea and Mali opposed the resolution in 2023. Only the former cast a no vote on the resolution in 2022. The African bloc was further divided over a UNGA vote that suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. Out of 54 African nations, 24 abstained, 12 did not participate, 10 voted in favor and 9 voted against. In general, there are concerns among Western foreign policy circles that the African bloc's large number of abstentions and absences during UNGA votes indicate Russia's expanding influence on the continent, with high-level visits and endeavors by the United States and Western Europe to seek the favor of African nations. This has in turn sparked a Western rebalancing toward Africa. Although there is some truth to Russia's expanding influence across Africa, especially given the Wagner Group's expanding footprint in West and Central Africa, strategic non-alignment is a well-established foreign policy stance that dates back to the Cold War, when the non-aligned movement was born. As alliances between the United States and the Soviet Union developed, pressure on states to choose sides swiftly increased. The Foundational Bandung Conference, the first significant Asian-African gathering in history, served as the forum for the formal formulation of the non-alignment tenets in 1955. The NAM was formally founded in 1961. The non-alignment strategy was used by nations who did not want to publicly engage in Great Power War, notably newly independent nations in the Global South. A tried and true diplomatic strategy, non-alignment protects practicing states from the repercussions of overly choosing sides in great power confrontation. Surprisingly, the non-aligned posture of many African nations makes this delegation particularly well suited for the job of neutral peace negotiations. The delegation's chances of advancing toward a peaceful settlement of the crisis are slim, though. The African delegation does not have much influence over Russia and Ukraine, which have very different goals and do not appear prepared to engage in peace negotiations. The delegation's primary goal is anticipated to be expanding access to grains and fertilizers produced in Russia and Ukraine. A global food crisis and a historic drought in the Horn. African nations have not escaped the war undamaged. Africa is strongly reliant on Russian and Ukrainian exports of grains and fertilizer. Prior to the conflict, Russia and Ukraine were two of the major grain exporters in the world, and they provided around one-fourth of the world's wheat in 2019. In addition, Russia leads the world in the exports of potassium and phosphorus fertilizers as well as nitrogen fertilizers. Between February 2022 and August 2022, six months after the conflict began, Russian naval blockades caused Ukrainian wheat to become stranded in black sea ports. Although Russian wheat was not subject to sanctions, it was much more difficult to buy due to Russia's partial exclusion from the swift payment system. The world's wheat markets were thrown into chaos. The Horn of Africa, which has been experiencing one of the worst droughts in the past 40 years, was experiencing a severe food crisis at the same time. Drought, conflict and climate have put more than 46 million people at danger of severe food insecurity in the Horn as the area enters its sixth consecutive failed rainy season. Egypt, the world's largest importer of wheat, suffered particularly greatly from the rise in wheat prices and the decline in supplies. Wheat imports into Egypt were worth $4.5 billion in 2021. The price of staples like rice and bread has doubled, and the cost of chicken and other meats has nearly doubled in the past year, further damaging Egypt's already struggling economy. President Maki Sol was serving as the African Union's chairperson when the conflict in Ukraine broke out. This important position is held annually by a different head of state. President Sol travelled to Sochi in June 2022 to negotiate the release of grain supplies due to the urgent demand for Ukraine's grains. Grain exports were not immediately secured by Sol, but a month later, a pact mediated by Turkey and the UN to establish a secure route to the Black Sea port of Ukraine took effect. The Black Sea Grain Initiative deal, which permits the export of commercial grain and fertilizers from Ukraine, helped to alleviate some of these shortages. For Russian food and fertilizer to reach international markets, a separate three-year deal was established. The Black Sea Grain Initiative is still in a very precarious position. Every 120 days, the agreement must be renewed, and Russia has used this as leverage to pressure other international players into making greater concessions. President Putin threatened to back out of the plan just this week. In advance of the delegation's visit, citing challenges in getting Russian agricultural products onto international markets, expect the African peace mission to advocate for a more secure grain agreement. This would entail extending the renewal period from 120 days to six months or more, which would give global markets and Ukrainian farmers, who continue to be concerned that their goods can be sold under the existing precarious agreement, more certainty. Additionally, the grain agreement's expanded port openings will enable a greater flow of Ukrainian agricultural products. Ultimately, it will be a monumental undertaking that will demand considerable concessions made to Russia in order to get them to agree to prolong the renewal timeframe for the packed and open more ports. Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzir outlined these compromises in a letter to UN representatives. It calls for the Russian Agricultural Bank to rejoin SWIFT and the removal of barriers preventing Russian ships and cargo from entering ports. Where is the African delegation to Sudan? The delegation's tour takes place two months into Sudan's bloody conflict. Two million people have been displaced due to fighting between the Sudan armed forces, SAFs and the rapid support forces, RSF, and others have been left without access to food, electricity or medicine. Multiple internationally mediated ceasefires have fallen apart and it is still extremely difficult to provide help to civilians. People have been perplexed by the turmoil in Sudan, wondering why a strong team of African leaders is departing to end a war in Europe when Sudan is raging. The delegation had planned this trip before the situation in Sudan broke out in early May, so that is the natural response. The query however hints at a deeper dissatisfaction with the sluggish diplomatic reaction by African powers to call for ceasefires, set up humanitarian corridors and assist Sudanese refugees. The criticisms are reasonable and might even be warranted. But this delegation's visit still has a lot of significance for resolving challenges with food security and promoting improved access to Russian and Ukrainian agricultural products. Africa's food security has been severely impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. The delegation's visit presents an opportunity for Africa to contribute positively to the solution of the grain and fertilizer shortages, afflicting the continent and other nations worldwide. The delegation's success, Nima, will rely on how eager Russia and Ukraine are to make concessions. If you found this video intriguing enough, do not hesitate to share your thoughts with us via the comment section and also do not forget to subscribe to Africa Reloaded for more interesting adventures. Please remember to turn on your notification so as to get lots of our newly released videos.