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- MASWALI | Issue 2
MASWALI | Issue 2
What the hell is Ruhakana Rugunda doing in Russia?
Uri Ludger & Joshua Musana
August 02, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Uri🕵🏾♂️;
Uri🕵🏾♂️;
Yo Malcolm. Saw in the news something about an African Peace Mission to Ukraine and Russia. Hopped onto Twitter and boom; I see this. What’s Rugunda doing with Putin? 🤔
Malcolm👨🏾⚖️:
Yeah. That mission’s been making the rounds. It was Cyril’s Rhamaphosa from South Africa 🇿🇦 leading. The idea was to try and negotiate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. There were leaders/representatives from 5 other countries;(Country emojis
Uri🕵🏾♂️;
Eh. Africans making big moves 💪🏾 Did they succeed?
Malcolm👨🏾⚖️;
Not really. They had a 10-proposal that was dismissed by V.Zelensky. He said there were demands they had of Russia that were non negotiable for them to even consider peace. They met with Putin the next day and he said pretty much the same thing.
Uri🕵🏾♂️;
Soo…waste of time then? When I think about it, isn’t it a bit unrealistic to think that we walk in and do what so many others(The West, China) have failed to do? Don’t think we have that kind of leverage🤔
Malcolm👨🏾⚖️;
Well, depends on how you look at it. Ramaphosa says that it opened the door to further talks. Debatable. But the significance is in the optics. As Africans, we must be more significant on the global stage. And this delegation is the first of its kind. A win is a win, however small. Besides, that war is directly affecting life here man. We have to participate.
Malcolm👨🏾⚖️;
And also it does look kinda weird to go out and push for peace when your own home is not in order. There’s a lot going on in Africa right now; Civil war in Sudan, DRC and Rwanda are clashing heads. And If you think our loading shedding is bad, go to South Africa😅🙌🏾
Uri🕵🏾♂️;
I see what you mean. It’s funny how it takes a war for you to actually notice how global trade works and where we get a lot of our essentials from. Africa imports almost 50% of its wheat (around 17 million tonnes) from Ukraine and Russia. Who would have thought!
Malcolm👨🏾⚖️;
Exactly. That dependence puts us at serious risk. Last week Russia decided to pull out of an agreement to let Ukrainian ships sail through the black Sea to export grain to destinations like East Africa. That’s doing to lead to an almost instant spike in food prices😬
Uri🕵🏾♂️;
Like things aren't hard enough🤦🏾♂️
Uri🕵🏾♂️;
Btw, something that had crossed my mind was; wasn’t it a bit awkward for Rugunda in Kyiv? Uganda does seem to sort of favor Russia?
Malcolm👨🏾⚖️;
Yeah you could argue that. They didn't even have the Uganda flag displayed or let him speak during the press conference. However, as a member of the Non Aligned Movement, Uganda is a neutral country and in fact we abstained voting on the Ukraine matter in the UN General Assembly on that basis. The US is definitely very bothered that we've not stuck to the Ukraine side.
Malcolm👨🏾⚖️;
It was awkward from the other leaders on the mission as well though. There was a flurry of bombs that struck Kyiv while the delegation was meeting with Zelenskyy. Ramaphosa's team of diplomats, media personnel and security officials were barred from leaving a plane at an airport in Warsaw by Polish authorities, on grounds of carrying un authorized weapons. It all speaks how little the receiving party took the African delegation seriously.
Uri🕵🏾♂️;
Damn! I wonder how UG can afford to switch sides like that. Anyway, thanks for the debrief man. Gotta go 👋🏾
Malcolm👨🏾⚖️;
Sawa sawa boss, Cheers✌🏾
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