On Friday, African leaders pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to move ahead with their peace plan to end the Ukraine conflict and to renew a deal on the safe wartime export of Ukrainian grain that Moscow tore up last week.

While not directly critical of Russia, their interventions on the second day of a summit were more concerted and forceful than those that African countries have voiced until now.

They served as reminders of the depth of African concern at the consequences of the war, especially rising food prices.

“This war must end. And it can only end on the basis of justice and reason,” African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told Mr Putin and African leaders in St Petersburg.

“The disruptions of energy and grain supplies must end immediately.

“The grain deal must be extended for the benefit of all the peoples of the world, Africans in particular,” Mr Mahamat added.

Reuters reported in June that the African plan floated a series of possible steps to defuse the conflict, including a Russian troop pull-back, removal of Russian tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Mr Putin, and sanctions relief.

When African leaders presented it last month, Mr Putin gave it a cool reception.

On Friday, he said Moscow respected the proposal and was carefully studying it, with Ukraine due to be discussed later at a working dinner.

Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso said the African initiative “deserves the closest attention”, calling “urgently” for peace.

Senegalese President Macky Sall called for “a de-escalation to help create calm”, while South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hoped that “constructive engagement and negotiation” could help end the conflict.

The stream of calls prompted Mr Putin repeatedly to defend Russia’s position and place the blame on Ukraine and the West.

He said Kyiv refused to negotiate under a decree passed after he claimed last September to have annexed four Ukrainian regions that Russia partly controls.

Russia has long said it is open to talks but that these must take account of the “new realities” on ground.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has now rejected the idea of a ceasefire that would leave Russia in control of nearly a fifth of his country and give its forces time to regroup after 17 grinding months of war.

AU chair Azali Assoumani offered some support for Mr Putin’s line, saying the Russian leader had shown his readiness to talk, and “now we have to convince the other side”.

At the summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged Russia to revive the Black Sea grain deal, which, until Moscow refused to renew it last week, had allowed Ukraine to export grain from its ports despite the conflict.

Egypt is a big grain buyer via the Black Sea route, and Mr Sisi told the summit it was “essential to reach an agreement” on reviving the deal.

As he has in the past, Mr Putin argued that rising world food prices resulted from Western policy mistakes long predating the Ukraine war.

He repeatedly said Russia quit the agreement because the deal was not getting grain to the poorest countries, and the West was not keeping its bargain.

(Reuters/NAN)