July 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The chairman of the African Union Commission, Musa Faki Mahamat, said on Tuesday that he “regrets” Russia’s withdrawal from the grain export agreement from Ukrainian ports, which was first reached in July 2022, in the framework of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I regret the suspension of the Black Sea Initiative for the transport of cereals, of which the African Union had been one of the first defenders,” Mahamat said through his profile on the social network Twitter.
The also former prime minister of Chad (2003 – 2005) has urged “the parties to resolve any problem to resume the safe transport of grain and fertilizers from Ukraine and Russia to where they are needed, especially in Africa.”
The day before, the Government of Kenya stated that Moscow’s decision to end the agreement with Ukraine for the export of grain is “a stab in the back” to food security that especially affects countries affected by drought.
“Russia’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative is a stab in the back to global food security prices and disproportionately impacts the already drought-stricken Horn of Africa,” the secretary said at the time. General of the Kenyan Foreign Ministry, Korir Sing’Oei.
Russia put an end to the grain export agreement due to Ukraine’s alleged breach of it, adding that the parties had been notified, including the United Nations, to whom Moscow’s arguments refusing to extend the agreement have been conveyed.
Thus, he clarified that the expiration of the agreement implies the closure of the maritime humanitarian corridor in the northwest of the Black Sea and the dissolution of the joint coordination center in Istanbul, created as a result of the pact. In addition, Moscow has withdrawn security guarantees for navigation in the immediate vicinity.
The grain export agreement was reached a year ago in the Turkish city of Istanbul with the mediation of the Turkish authorities and the United Nations. The pact allowed Ukrainian cereals and Russian agricultural products to be exported through the ports of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus Strait, although Russia has denounced that the exports of its fertilizers did not comply as stated in the original agreement.
