17 African Nations Abstain From UN Vote

17 AFRICAN NATIONS ABSTAIN FROM UN VOTE TO

CONDEMN RUSSIA- By Jamie Morris

Over a dozen countries in Africa have abstained from a United Nations vote on whether or not to denounce Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The emergency vote showed that the vast majority of the UN’s member states were opposed to Russia’s violence against its smaller neighbour, with 141 out of 193 nations voting in favour of a resolution in support of Ukraine. While five member states voted against the resolution – Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Syria and Russia itself – 35 members of the UN General Assembly abstained from the vote. Nearly half of these abstentions were by African nations, including South Africa and Zimbabwe. On Twitter, the South African Embassy of Russia thanked South Africans for sending “a great number of letters of solidarity,” implying that the country’s population was largely in favour of Russia during the conflict. Some replies to the tweet expressed their support, with one user saying “We love Russia because [we] remember your contributions to our struggles,” referencing the former USSR’s opposition to the apartheid regime. The majority of responses, however, were much more critical, such as author Prof Thuli Madonsela tweeting: “Grateful that the Soviet Union supported our anti-apartheid struggle and Russia’s generosity in this regard, but I choose not to support Russia’s #UkraineInvasion and the slaughter of civilians as that is an unconscionable international law violation.” Another user accused the Embassy of perpetuating false propaganda that the South African people are united behind Russia when many are not. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa sought to justify his decision to abstain from the vote in his weekly newsletter, claiming that the reason was because the UN’s resolution “did not foreground the call for meaningful engagement” between Russia and Ukraine. “There have been some who have said that in abstaining from the vote condemning Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, South Africa has placed itself on the wrong side of history,” he said. “Yet, South Africa is firmly on the side of peace at a time when another war is something the world does not need, nor can it afford.” A similar explanation was given by Zimbabwe’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amon Murwira, who argued that the UN’s resolution has “poured more fuel to the fire”. “Zimbabweans have been victims of unilateral sanctions for over 20 years and would not wish this on anyone,” he said. “Dialogue is the way forward.” Like South Africa, Zimbabwe has historic ties with Russia that may have factored into its decision to abstain. In 2008, alongside China, Russia vetoed a UN security council seeking sanctions against Robert

Mugabe, hindering attempts by Britain and the US to apply punitive pressure on the controversial thenPresident. In fact, several African countries have had good relationships with Russia since the Cold War, maintaining trade links and arms sales up to the present day. In 2018, Russian officials toured Africa in an attempt to renew its ties with the continent, and around that time, Putin announced the decision to cancel over $20 billion in debt contracted by African countries to assist in their struggles against poverty. Plans were also revealed to build a logistics centre in Eritrea – a country now among only four in the world to actively support Russia in this vote. But Putin has not been successful in winning over the entire continent. 25 African nations voted to condemn Russia, including Ghana and Kenya. In a UN security council speech in February, Kenyan UN Ambassador Martin Kimani expressed his support for Ukraine, saying that the situation echoed the history of Kenya and most other African countries. “We believe that all states formed from empires that have collapsed or retreated have many peoples in them yearning for integration with peoples in neighbouring states,” he said. “However, Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force. We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression.” It is important to note that this was a non-binding vote held to gauge the United Nations’ attitudes towards the Russia-Ukraine war. The full consequences of each member state’s decision remains to be seen, but if anything is clear, it is that it depicts an Africa divided in its response to the ongoing crisis.

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