Key African states stressed the need for grain imports to tackle food insecurity as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to discuss with the continent's leaders the fate of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of food and fertiliser from Ukraine.
While food and fertiliser exports do not fall under the West's tough sanctions imposed on Russia over the war, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance create barriers.
Putin also complained that under the deal "almost nothing goes to African countries" and said Moscow is ready to supply grain for free to the world's poorest countries.the Black Sea grain deal is a commercial enterprise, but that it benefits poorer countries by helping lower food prices globally. Zambia's Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo said in a statement on Wednesday that the war in Ukraine and conflict in Sudan had "taken a devastating toll on African communities, resulting in the loss of life, and food insecurity, due to the rising costs of grain and fertiliser".more than 31 million tonnes of grain have been exported under the pact, with 43% of that to developing countries. More than 625,000 tonnes of grain has been shipped by the U.N.
The Black Sea grain deal was initially brokered for 120 days. Russia has agreed to extend it three times but warned on Wednesday that its "goodwill" cannot last forever."If it's true that we would starve if that grain deal is disrupted, why is it that it's the West crying more than us Africans? They are crying crocodile tears," Uganda's state minister for Foreign Affairs, Okello Oryem told Reuters.
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