The leader of the African Union met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday and urged him to release much-needed stocks of grain that are stuck in Ukraine as many countries across Africa and the Middle East face alarming levels of hunger and starvation.
Macky Sall, the president of Senegal and current chairman of the regional organization of Africa’s 54 countries, said Russia’s blockade of grain was threatening food insecurity on the continent. At a news conference alongside Mr. Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Mr. Sall also said Western sanctions on Russia had compounded Africa’s lack of access to grain.
“Our countries, although they are far from the theater,” Mr. Sall said, “are victims of this crisis on an economic level.”
The meeting between Mr. Sall and Mr. Putin comes as tens of million of people in Africa are on the brink of severe hunger and even famine. On Friday, Chad, a landlocked nation of 17 million people, declared a food emergency and the United Nations has warned that nearly a third of the country’s population would need humanitarian assistance this year.
African countries are critically dependent on grain from Russia and Ukraine, which account for more than 40 percent of the continent’s wheat imports. Countries like Rwanda, Tanzania and Senegal rely on both countries for more than 60 percent of such imports. In Egypt, that figure rises to 80 percent, while Benin and Somalia rely entirely on Russia and Ukraine for wheat supply.
African countries are also dependent on fertilizers from Ukraine, and shortages will affect this year’s planting season and will be felt throughout next year, the United Nations’ development agency has warned.
Since pressure from Western leaders to release the grain exports from Ukraine has not worked, there were hopes that a more neutral voice such as Mr. Sall’s might reach Mr. Putin.
“For Putin, it’s more pleasant to have Africa in front of him than Europe or the United States,” said Ousmane Sène, the director of the West African Research Center, a think tank in Dakar. Still, Mr. Sène added, “It’s a bit like David going toward Goliath.”
Mr. Putin has told European leaders that he was ready to release the grain stuck in Ukraine on the condition that some Western sanctions against Russia be lifted. Russia has also claimed that mines laid by Ukraine were preventing wheat shipments.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Mr. Putin planned to give Mr. Sall a detailed explanation of Russia’s view and explain “what is necessary to do to allow the grain flow to resume.”
Pauline Bax, the Africa Program deputy director at the International Crisis Group, said that while the European Union has framed Russia as the “bad guy” responsible for the ongoing food crisis, some African Union members have argued that E.U. sanctions were at fault.
That claim has been embraced by some of Russia’s key allies like South Africa, and on Friday, Mr. Sall also argued that sanctions on Russia had only compounded the problems of access to grain for African countries.
Mr. Sall, who addressed a European Union summit this week, said at the news conference with Mr. Putin that he had reminded the European leaders about the food crisis, telling them “Yes, there is the war, the crisis, but there are also the sanctions. We need to work on both fronts.”
For all the latest World News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
