2023-06-13 09:21:09
Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso said Monday, June 12, that Africa could not “remain silent” in the face of the conflict in Ukraine, a few days before mediation by several Heads of State from the continent in kyiv and Moscow. “Faced with such a tragedy, Africa cannot remain silent or indifferent”said the Head of State during a press briefing on the sidelines of a state visit to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Mr. Sassou-Nguesso is part of a mission of several African presidents who are to travel to kyiv and Moscow on Friday and Saturday, where they will meet Volodymyr Zelensky and then Vladimir Putin. According to a Congolese diplomatic source, in addition to Mr. Sassou-Nguesso the delegation will be composed of Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), Macky Sall (Senegal), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Hakainde Hichilema (Zambia), Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi (Egypt ) and Azali Assoumani (Comoros and current Chairman of the African Union).
They will wear “a message of peace, at least of appeasement”, pour “to make the belligerents understand what suffering this war has caused to the weak peoples of the world and in particular to the peoples of Africa”the Congolese president said on Monday.
Thirteen cooperation agreements were signed on Monday between the Congo-Brazzaville and the Ivory Coast in sectors such as agriculture, security and transport. Welcoming relationships “excellent” between the two countries, the Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, welcomed the “mediator role” of his guest “across the continent”. The Congolese president is notably at the head of an African Union committee which is trying to end the conflict in Libya.
Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who turns 80 in November, was Congo’s president from 1979 to 1992, before returning to power in 1997. His visit to Côte d’Ivoire is due to end on Thursday.
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