In what could be seen as a jab at the West, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said African countries are tired of being bullied.
“African countries should, as sovereign states, be able to pursue independent foreign policy approaches that are not beholden to any of the major global powers or blocs,” Ramaphosa said on Friday.
told his peers: “There must be respect for what we do as countries, and we must stop those countries that count their wealth and their assets in terms of the minerals that reside in the African soil like they did in the past when they counted their wealth in the number of slaves that they owned that were taken from the African continent.”
Speaking on day-two of the Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg, Ramaphosa said respect and mutual benefit should underpin international relations.
The summit, which ended on Friday, was attended by more than 17 heads of state including Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Zambia’s Hakinde Hichilema, Namibia’s Hage Geingob and Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The meeting came hard on the heels of Russia quitting the Black Sea grain initiative.
The Black Sea deal was brokered by the UN and Turkey in July last year to combat a global food crisis worsened by Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are among the world's top grain exporters.
Russia has complained that under the deal not enough grain has reached poor countries. But the UN argued the arrangement has benefited those states by helping lower food prices by more than 20% globally.
Ramaphosa said South Africa and Africa are encouraged by Russia's commitment to deepen co-operation with African nations.
“Today our bilateral relationship remains strong. We continue to collaborate in political, economic, social, defence and security spheres. We work closely across multilateral platforms such as the UN, G20 and as members of Brics."
Africa’s participation in forums such as these is guided by the continent’s quest to realise the AU’s Agenda 2063 vision of economic integration and inclusive socioeconomic development.
“As you know and as a member of Brics, South Africa will shortly be hosting the 15th Brics summit in Johannesburg. We see this summit as an opportunity to promote enhanced global co-operation and to achieve prosperity for the nations of Africa.
“The Brics partners are significant investors in Africa. The upcoming summit will therefore give particular attention to infrastructure development supported by the new development bank (Brics Bank) as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area from a trading point of view.
“The ACFTA once fully operational will unlock the benefits of the continental market and generate mutually beneficial opportunities for both African and Brics countries alike.”
Ramaphosa said African countries are beginning to shape their own destinies.
“Our substantial resources are being harnessed first and foremost for Africa’s benefit, to grow African economies and to pursue sustainable development.
“We seek reciprocal trade and investment, and for the goods, products and services from Africa to compete on an equal footing in the global economy.”
Africa no longer wants to export ore, soil and dust and rocks from the minerals of the continent. Instead, he said Africa wants to export finished products that have value.
The second Russia-Africa Summit is an opportunity to further enhance and strengthen international co-operation and partnership for Africa’s development.
The focus on further co-operation between Russia and Africa to promote investment, facilitate the development of value chains and boost capacity to produce and export manufactured products, is welcomed, he added.
He said the proposed Russia-Africa Action Plan for the coming years should align with the second ten-year implementation plan of the AU’s Agenda 2063.
“This will ensure that there is coherence and that the plan is action-orientated based on real practical interventions.”
Ramaphosa said joint monitoring and evaluation of the action plan should be priorities.
“We need to jointly allocate the necessary funding for implementation and be accountable for concrete deliverables. Geopolitical tensions are negatively affecting countries across Africa.
“As part of Russia-Africa co-operation we must repeat our call for existing global institutional mechanisms to be both strengthened and reformed.”
Greater participation of countries of the global south will promote inclusiveness and engender trust, he said. “In this regard, the reform of the multilateral financial institutions and the UN Security Council remains a priority for us. It is totally unfair, inequitable and unacceptable that a continent that represents 1.3-billion people continues to be not represented on the UNSC.”
He said the world was affected by conflict and instability.
“We have a responsibility as nations to work for peace, to support peace-building and to lend our every effort to bring an end to conflict and war. As South Africa, we are steadfast in our position that negotiation, dialogue and adherence to the principles of the UN Charter are necessary for the peaceful and just resolution of conflict.”
Ramaphosa said African leaders hope that constructive engagement and negotiation can bring about an end to the ongoing conflict between Russian and Ukraine.
The president also thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for opening his doors to the African leaders’ peace initiative on June 17.
TimesLIVE