Cape Town - The proverb better late than never finds true meaning from the recent peace mission undertaken by some African leaders in Ukraine and Russia.
While it took them months to get first-hand knowledge of the conflict, the leaders led by President Cyril Ramaphosa are to be commended for making it their business to visit and hear both sides.
Put aside for one second the real politics that may have been at play in influencing the decision to finally visit, the impact of the conflict – especially in Africa – cannot be overstated.
It’s hard arguing against those describing the peace mission as historic for the continent, which has been largely seen as a bystander in global issues.
It becomes disheartening that many, including in the media space, have sought to downplay the importance of this exercise.
Of course, the expectation could not have been that the leaders would be able to bring the conflict to an end immediately. That would have been wishful thinking. Even those countries before them tried and failed.
Instead, theirs was to establish from the two countries what could be done towards achieving peace.
Their draft framework document proposing a series of “confidence-building measures” stated clearly that the mission’s objective was “to promote the importance of peace and to encourage the parties to agree to a diplomacy-led process of negotiations”.
If they had it their way, they would have been satisfied with seeing troops being pulled back, removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of implementation of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and sanctions relief.
What has become apparent from this visit is that no visit by any head of state will bring this conflict to an end unless the two countries themselves are ready to do so. When that happens, there will be no real winners.
While the efforts by Senegalese President Macky Sall and Ramaphosa, who headed the delegation including leaders from Zambia, the Comoros and Egypt’s prime minister may have appeared to be in vain now, they should take pride in adding African voices in this global crisis.
Cape Times