African peace missions to Ukraine and Russia last week came up empty-handed. Led by South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, the delegation included leaders and senior officials from Congo-Brazzaville, Comoros, Egypt, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia.
Their plan was based on establishing a ceasefire “through negotiations and diplomatic means”. High on the agenda were calls for Ukrainian and Russian grain and fertiliser exports to resume unimpeded and the return of children taken during the conflict.
The delegation met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Kyiv on Friday June 16, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the margins of the St Petersburg economic forum the following day. Both leaders rejected the plan as unworkable.
