Steenhuisen fly’s to Ukraine for fact-finding,
It is of no news how voiceless the African continent have been regarding the current crises amid Russia-Ukraine war but for South African President Ramaphosa who has criticized NATO and the US for it
The strongest opposition leader of South Africa the Democratic Alliance has travel to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to witness the atrocities caused by the Vladimir Putin’s military troops.
“I am in Ukraine to realize for myself and to speak for my country. Someone must. It is strongly in South Africa’s importance to stand with the free world and come out firm against Russian aggression,” said John Steenhuisen in a Wednesday statement.
Per reports, Steenhuisen is presently on a 6-day visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. He is to make stopovers at several refugee camps and have conversations with some of the country’s mayors and governors as well as Ukrainian citizens
John Steenhuisen the opposition leader said he wants to see personally the effects of the Russian war. “In the era of fake news and propaganda, this is the only way to truly know what is happening,” he stated.
Steenhuisen said Russia’s war against Ukraine is not a European problem but a global one which has had gross effect on Africa.
“The adverse effect of this war on our own fuel, maize, cooking oil and fertilizer prices will reach deep into the pockets of poor South Africans who can already not make ends meet,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s major grain producers, with the two supplying more than a half of the world’s wheat.
Steenhuisen accused President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has criticized the West, blaming NATO for the war in Ukraine. The president who had phoned Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he would oppose calls to attack Russia.
A statement from President Ramaphosa in parliament last month were that “The war could have been prevented if NATO had regarded the threats from amongst its leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to superior, not less, instability in the region,”.
Nearly half of all Africa countries refrained or did not vote at all in UN resolutions demanding a Russian truce in Ukraine and that Moscow end its war.
“Russia’s enlargement within Africa has been through ‘exclusive capture,’ where malleable leaders are ensnared in lasting sponsorship schemes,” Steenhuisen asserted. “15 African nations are currently involved in Russian-financed nuclear power deals, and many more are signed onto the Russian security contracts.”
