African Leaders Set for Peace Mission to Ukraine, Russia

• A team of seven African leaders has embarked on a peace mission to Kyiv in Ukraine for a peace talk between the country and Russia
• The seven-man delegation is made up of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and senior representatives of Egypt, Senegal, Comoros, Uganda, Zambia, and the Republic of the Congo
• The peace mission is organised by a non-profit organisation, the Brazzaville Foundation

Kyiv, Ukraine - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is leading seven African leaders on a peace mission between Ukraine and Russia.

Ramaphosa, who has arrived at Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, will meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky today, June 16, before heading to Russia with his seven-member team on a peace mission, BBC Pidgin reported.

The African group, which includes leaders from South Africa and Egypt, will speak with President Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin on achieving a cease-fire and lasting peace.

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This latest move by the African leaders comes after Kyiv launched a counter-offensive which increased the volatility of the war.

African leaders on the team

In addition to the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the delegation also includes Senegalese President Macky Sall, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, and the President of Comoros, the current chairperson of the African Union, Azali Assoumani.

Organiser of the peace initiative

The peace mission is organised by an independent non-profit, the Brazzaville Foundation.

The goals of the Brazzaville Foundation are to develop initiatives and prevent wars and violence, especially in Africa.

The peace mission is put together by Jean-Yves Ollivier, a Frenchman who has helped secure the release of hostages in the Central African Republic.

Ollivier has also negotiated one power-sharing deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Concerning the war in Ukraine, the Brazzaville Foundation has stated that dialogue is critical.

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Foundation members have met with representatives from Ukraine and Russia in the past few months.

According to the foundation website, their objective is to help with the resumption of peace talks between both countries, and the members hope to make progress during these visits to Ukraine and Russia.

Aims of the mission

In previously published interviews, Jean-Vyes Ollivier had said the aim was to commence talk instead of trying to resolve the war.

He noted that the talks should start from issues without direct connection with the military situation and build from there.

One such talk is a potential swap (exchange) of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The other is to find solutions to issues of importance to Africa, like grain and fertiliser.

The war has seriously affected and blocked the export of grain from Ukraine and fertilisers from Russia, increasing global food insecurity in Africa.

The African continent also depends on imports from the two countries.

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Why did Russia invade Ukraine and what does President Vladimir Putin want?

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Dr Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian pastor resident in Kyiv, had advised members of his church to stay calm even as he admits what was prayed against, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was already happening.

A year of disinformation around the war in Ukraine

Legit.ng also reported that the war in Ukraine had been accompanied by a ferocious battle of disinformation, particularly by pro-Russian agitators seeking to distort and shift the blame for many atrocities on the ground.

These agitators have sought to depict the Ukrainian side as Nazis or suggest that Western support for Kyiv is evaporating.

Here are some of the main narratives, false or misleading, that have been fact-checked over the past year by AFP's digital verification teams.

Source: Legit.ng