ANALYSIS: Could Africa broker a peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war?

By Hans Ngala

CAPE TOWN – South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced his country will be leading five other African countries to Moscow and Kiev to meet with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky respectively in an effort to end the war between both nations.

Speaking on March 16 while hosting the Prime Minister of Singapore, Ramaphosa stated that “…Representing various heads of government, I presented the initiative on behalf of these countries: Zambia, Senegal, Congo Brazzaville, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa as well. The two leaders that I had occasion to speak to, that is President Putin and President Zelensky agreed that they will be willing to receive the mission of the African heads of state in both Moscow and Kiev…

“I agreed with both of them that we will commence with the preparations for their engagements with these African heads of state. The SG of the UN was also briefed and so was the African Union office…”.
The announcement comes several days after the US ambassador to South Africa accused South Africa of “not in fact being neutral” as the ambassador claimed that South Africa was supplying arms to Russia.

Nonetheless, the news is very much celebrated in Africa because it would appear that America and its Western allies are not interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict. America has not called for peace but has been busy arming Ukraine to the teeth, as have their counterparts in the European Union.

This is one of the rare occasions in which Africa is taking a global leadership position in one of the biggest wars since the start of this century and if the six African countries representing the entire African continent are able to broker a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine war, this would be a big win not only for Russia and Ukraine but also for the entire African continent and people of African descent.
For far too long, Africa’s image has been one of civil war, corruption and underdevelopment though countries like Botswana, Namibia and Rwanda are doing great things in terms of governance in the case of the first two and innovation in the case of Rwanda.

Brokering a successful peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine war will also be beneficial for African economies because one of the fallouts from the war has been the levels of inflation that have gone over the roof in several African countries. Protests erupted in Ghana months ago over high costs of living and there were also protests in Uganda and Kenya and reports of increased prices for commodities in Cameroon as well – all with some links to the war in Ukraine.

While Ramaphosa’s country is dealing with an energy crisis that sometimes sees power being cut for up to 4 hours a day, this is more to do with outdated infrastructure and corruption than the war in Ukraine.

Ramaphosa understands that his country has its own internal issues to grapple with but that does not make South Africa less of a credible partner in leading the talks between Moscow and Kiev. After all, America has been pushing for Pretoria to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but Ramaphosa’s government chose a more neutral tone, rather calling for both sides to engage in dialogue to resolve the conflict. Therefore this is being seen as an opportunity for South Africa to prove itself as non-aligned.

It is not clear how the talks will go but although the African delegation will be meeting both Putin and Zelensky separately, there are those who would have preferred to see both leaders sitting in one room. Nonetheless, this is the first time since the war started over a year ago, that both Putin and Zelensky have agreed to both meet leaders that have spoken to Moscow and then Kiev – a remarkable feat for Africa in a European war that has stunned the rest of the world. This is an important time for Africa’s role in global geopolitics and also brings to mind the Biblical quotation in John 1:46 where “Nazareth” can be replaced with Africa in asking “Can anything good come out of Nazareth” and the answer like that of Philip would be “Come and see”.