President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who is in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to attend a two-day Second Russia-Africa summit, has today on the sidelines of the summit met and held a meeting with a committee of the African peace initiative on the crisis in Ukraine that recently met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to broker and end the conflict in Ukraine.
Although President Museveni was one of the African leaders who were nominated to be part of the African peace initiative on Ukraine, he was unable to travel for the peace mission due to health complications and was represented by his Special Envoy and former Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.
The committee which include the Presidents of South Africa, Senegal, Zambia, Comoros Islands and other senior officials from African governments last month met President Putin and President Zelenskyy separately in their respective countries with a view of pushing for the end to the conflict in Ukraine.
During the meeting President Museveni was briefed on the progress made by the committee of African leaders in the quest for peace and the end of the conflict in Ukraine. They also shared the different views and sentiments held by the warring factions in Ukraine.
President Museveni reiterated his commitment to continue working with the committee so as to ensure that a peaceful and amicable solution is realised in Ukraine for the good of the people of Ukraine, Russia, the region and the world.
Earlier, President Museveni attended the opening of the 2nd Russia-Africa economic and humanitarian forum.
In his address, while opening the summit, President Putin reiterated Russia’s commitment to enhance trade, economic gains and humanitarian cooperation with Africa and expressed hope that the summit will contribute to the realization of these goals.
President Putin used the occasion to assure the African leaders and the world that Russia was doing all it could to avert the looming food crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine that risks causing shortages and price spikes of grains.
“Our country will continue to support needy states and regions, in partnership with its humanitarian deliveries. We seek to actively participate in building fairer systems of distribution of resources as we take maximum effort to avert the global food crisis,” President Putin told the leaders at the summit.
He further assured the summit that Russia was ready to replace Ukraine grains both on a commercial basis or as a grant and to the neediest African countries as it has expanded and recorded the highest yield ever.
He equally pledged cooperation with the African continent in the area of education through increased enrolment of African students into Russian universities, opening of Russian state media bureaus on the African continent and putting up a common information space Centre for Russia and Africa.
He equally pledged cooperation with the African continent in the areas of science and technology and agriculture noting that with mechanized agriculture, the African continent will not only ensure food security for the continent but would also feed the world.
