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War in Ukraine: AU concerned about fallout from EU sanctions



The President of the African Union (AU) and Senegal, Macky Sall, expressed concern about the consequences of European sanctions excluding Russian banks from the international Swift system. He also called on the EU to release grain stocks blocked in Ukraine because of the conflict.


As part of the sixth package of sanctions against Moscow, the European Union (EU) banned the main Russian bank, Sberbank, from access to Swift, a secure messaging platform allowing crucial operations such as fund transfer orders.


"When the Swift system is disrupted, even if the products (to be purchased) exist, the payment becomes complicated, if not impossible. I want to insist that suitable solutions should be found," declared Macky Sall to the leaders of the EU meeting at the summit in Brussels.


In a videoconference message, the Senegalese president also asked the Heads of State and their governments to do everything "to release the cereal stocks available" in Ukraine. These are blocked by Russia, organizing a blockade in the Black Sea prohibiting access to the port of Odessa.


It is necessary "to ensure transport and access to the market to avoid the catastrophic scenario of shortages and generalized price increases," he pleaded.


"It's not easy to get out the 20 million tonnes of Ukrainian wheat," explained the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, accusing Russia of using wheat as "a weapon of war. Obviously, you need an agreement with Russia to use the sea route," he acknowledged.


Alternative routes by rail and road are being studied, but they will at best allow a third of the wheat stocks to be transported, a European official told AFP. "This crisis particularly affects our countries because of their strong dependence on Russian and Ukrainian wheat production," insisted Macky Sall.


According to the UN, 282 million people, more than a third of the world's undernourished people, lived in Africa in 2020. "Add to this 46 million Africans at risk of hunger and undernourishment due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The worst may be ahead of us," he warned, stressing that the outbreak of Fertilizer prices could cause a "20% to 50%" collapse in cereal yields in Africa this year.


"However, it is important that the EU and the AU speak with one voice, with a message aligned with the fact that the blocking of wheat exports is due to the war in Ukraine and not to European sanctions," insists a European source.


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