Valerie Mmanthe Mampshika, [Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English].
It is unclear in terms of what South Africa’s position will be before this week’s special UN(United Nations) General Assembly session on Russia’s declared confiscation of certain territories in Ukraine .
The General Assembly suggests solutions to countries on international problems with regards to political, economic, humanitarian, social and legal matters.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine Kira Rudik has begged African leaders who have not been supportive towards Ukraine to rethink their viewpoint before the special UN General Assembly session based on Russia’s recent declared confiscation of four Ukrainian territories.
Rudik explained that receiving support from other countries could be beneficial for Ukraine which supports the future of democracy, anticolonialism instead of tyranny and dictatorship by the Russians.
If Russia’s actions are not condemned,it will result into backfire for African countries if neighbouring countries want to follow Russia’s example by illegally invading some parts of other African neighbouring countries.
Rudik, who is a leader for the liberal Golos party,and is also known as the Deputy president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, was in South Africa for the Africa Liberal Network’s general assembly last week, where she discussesed the plans for Ukraine moving forward.
Rudik said that a few weeks ago she visited the UN General Assembly in the United States of America (USA),New York City where all the leaders of different countries were gathered, and she discovered that European leaders have a unified view of the war occurring in Ukraine,but when tables were turned and Rudik mentioned the democratic perspective,it turns out that European countries view the world differently due to the Russian propaganda.
Propaganda is simply information which is biased or misleads others,and the information is used to promote a political cause or point of view.
Ukraine continues to hope that more African countries would vote in favour of the resolution condemning Russia’s move to confiscate Ukraine territories namely Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia,since more than half of the
African countries voted in favour of the resolution.
This week the General Assembly session, came about after the Russians exercised their veto in the UN Security Council to block a resolution condemning the confiscation at the end of last month,although the duty of the security council has to be maintaining international peace and security for all the countries.
The issue will now be taken up by the General Assembly, where no country has a veto. A procedural vote could be held before a European Union (EU) drafted resolution will be voted on to determine whether Russia’s request will be granted by holding secret ballots for votes.
The vote will be used as a measuring tool to measure positions of various countries based on the Russia and Ukraine conflict, and any possible increased support for either side, since it started in February.
Through the process of restarting exports, Ukraine is keen to get exports of its grain moving to African countries again as the conflict has severely restricted the movements of ships out of Ukraine’s ports.
South Africa has thus far abstained from voting on resolutions based on the Ukraine conflict, with leaders saying they want to maintain a non-aligned stance because they support a move to a negotiated peace instead… as expected.
South African government leaders have recognised that actions of Russians which began in February,started as “military exercises” in Ukraine rights of Ukrainians have been violated.
It is not yet clear what South Africa’s position will be this week, or whether persistent requests by the West has paid off. This included requests by the USA President Joe Biden, who hosted President Cyril Ramaphosa on a working visit at the White House last month.
