African leaders meet Zelensky and Putin on a peacekeeping mission

The leaders of the Republic of Congo, Egypt and Uganda also planned to travel to Ukraine but will send representatives instead, a spokesman for the South African president told News24, a South African news outlet. The African leaders, who have traveled from Poland, will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev before heading to Russia to meet President Vladimir V. Putin in St Petersburg.

The unusual diplomatic mission has sparked mixed reactions, including curiosity, hope and skepticism. Many African countries are at odds with the United States and its allies, which have condemned the Russian invasion, backed Ukraine with billions of dollars in arms, and tried to isolate Moscow with economic sanctions.

More than a dozen African countries have abstained from United Nations votes to condemn Russia or call for its withdrawal from Ukraine, with a handful voting in support of Russia. The stakes of the war are particularly high for Africa, where critical supply chains, particularly for agricultural products, have been disrupted as a result of the fighting. Since the invasion, Russia has worked hard to solidify its alliances on the continent, where it is a major supplier of weapons.

The peace initiative was announced by Mr Ramaphosa last month, just days after the US ambassador to South Africa accused the country of supplying arms to Russia before the war. South African officials have rejected the claim.

South Africa and other countries on the continent have firmly maintained that it was best to take a neutral stance on the war, saying they could better serve the situation by trying to broker peace. While some analysts have questioned whether this mission could realistically bear fruit, its supporters note that among the leaders who have initiated peace initiatives, they are the first to meet the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine.

“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,” Ramaphosa said in a statement released Thursday.

A statement released by the Zambian foreign minister on Wednesday said the country saw global peace “as a catalyst for socio-economic development in Africa and the world at large, reflecting its decision to join this initiative underlined”.

The delegation was organized in part by Jean-Yves Ollivier, a wealthy French businessman with a decades-long history of participating in peace negotiations for countries across Africa. But Mr Ollivier has been too viewed with some suspicion for his close ties to the Congolese President, Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Mr Ollivier told several news organizations that the delegation came about through conversations he had with heads of state in several African countries with whom he has close ties. He said the first order of business in talks with Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin would be to discuss possible prisoner swaps and strengthen agreements that would allow fertilizer exports from Russia.

In an article in Newsweekhe said the mission could move forward “by initiating a dialogue on topics of interest to the two countries and which will have no direct impact on the military situation on the ground in the beginning.”

“And there will be a pile of dialogue,” he added. “And based on this dialogue, we believe that could lead to other issues and at least open the prospect of a settlement.”

Megan Special contributed reporting from Lviv, Ukraine.