South Africa‘s Ramaphosa, Zambia‘s Hakainde Hichilema and Comoros‘ Assoumani look much happier to be in Russia than they looked in Ukraine
Archiv: Congo-Brazzaville
Putin begins talks on Ukraine with African leaders
Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun talks with a delegation of seven African nations that arrived in St. Petersburg to look for solutions to the Ukraine crisis.
The meeting is taking place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, which was a residence of the Romanov imperial family and now hosts official events, including international ones.
Putin to have bilateral meeting with South African president later on Saturday — Kremlin
„Judging by the schedule, after visiting Kiev [South African President Cyril] Ramaphosa will be the first to come here, President of the Union of the Comoros Azali Assoumani will be here, as well as Senegalese President Macky Sall, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuly. There will also be representatives of Congo and Uganda. This will be the African delegation that visited Kiev on the previous year, holding a meeting with [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky,“ Peskov added.
Some countries’ peace proposals on Ukraine contain ‘ideas that could work’ — Zakharova
„I reiterate that we are thankful to every country, every state or every public figure – because many initiatives were personally proposed by prominent figures, internationalists; we are grateful to everyone, who speaks about peace, who speaks about [peaceful] settlement and, who wants to be useful regarding this issue,“ she said.
„There are interesting ideas, which may work. There are ideas that are in sync with our approaches, and, for instance, it includes the Chinese initiative,“ she continued.
Ambassador of Ukraine to South Africa: I think in a year we will see completely different architecture of support among African countries in UN
“A lot depends on our activity in the region, on dialogues and contacts at different levels, on Minister Kuleba‘s direct tour and on the upcoming visit of the presidents of African countries. But, I emphasize: we should not expect that a change in the positions of countries will occur in the short term. This is a ‘long game.’ And it requires strength, enthusiasm and faith. I believe that in the end it will become absolutely clear to African countries that Ukraine is fighting for the same values, freedoms, and rights for which these countries have been fighting and shedding blood for many years,” the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Russia strikes Kyiv amid visit by African leaders on peace mission
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched six Kalibr cruise missiles, six Kinzhal ballistic missiles, and two drones to carry out the strikes.
No buildings or facilities were damaged in the attack, Klitschko said.
Why South Africa‘s Cyril Ramaphosa is leading Ukraine peace mission
(16.06.2023)
The delegation from South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville, Comoros, Zambia, and Uganda is meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday and President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
But the timing of the visit seems off. It comes just as Kyiv is launching its much-vaunted counter-offensive.
Congo Brazzaville‘s Sassou Nguesso re-elected with more than 88% of vote, early results show
Sassou Nguesso, 77, has been in power for an accumulated 36 years, first taking the helm of the central African state in 1979. His landslide first-round victory, announced by the interior minister citing figures from the electoral commission, had been widely expected.
CFA franc
The currency has been criticized for making economic planning for the developing countries of French West Africa all but impossible since the CFA‘s value is pegged to the euro (whose monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank).[3] Others disagree and argue that the CFA „helps stabilize the national currencies of Franc Zone member-countries and greatly facilitates the flow of exports and imports between France and the member-countries“.[4] The European Union‘s own assessment of the CFA‘s link to the euro, carried out in 2008, noted that „benefits from economic integration within each of the two monetary unions of the CFA franc zone, and even more so between them, remained remarkably low“ but that „the peg to the French franc and, since 1999, to the euro as exchange rate anchor is usually found to have had favourable effects in the region in terms of macroeconomic stability“
French colonialism lives on in Africa
CFA franc. These two words probably do not mean much to most readers, but they encapsulate one of the world’s most enduring – and little-known – economic experiments. In the simplest possible terms, the CFA franc is a currency used by 14 countries of Western and Central Africa, all of which are former French colonies.