Moscow (The Russian Federation) 23 July 2022 (SPS)- The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, stressed in an article published on several African websites, Friday, under the title "Russia and Africa: a future-bound partnership", that his country supports the completion of the decolonization of the African continent, stressing the need to respect the United Nations Charter in international relations.
The Russian official’s reference came to reiterate Russia’s position in support of completing the process of decolonization of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa, in accordance with the resolutions of international legality, as it was confirmed through the positions of the permanent member of the Security Council, especially during Russia’s abstention from voting on Council resolutions over the few past years as a result of the lack of balance and departure from the spirit and text of the Charter of the United Nations, as confirmed by the country's delegates many times in their explanation of votes.
The Russian Head of diplomacy recalled that “Russia has consistently advocated Africa’s strengthened position in the multipolar architecture of a world order which should be based on the principles of the UN Charter and take the world’s cultural and civilizational diversity into account.”
He further stressed that “Russia-Africa ties are based on the time-tested bonds of friendship and cooperation. Our country has not stained itself with the bloody crimes of colonialism and has always sincerely supported Africans in their struggle for liberation from colonial oppression, and provided practical and often gratuitous assistance to the peoples of the continent in the formation of their statehood, creation of the foundations of national economies, defense capabilities build-up, and training of qualified personnel.”
Today, the Russian Minister adds, “we stand in solidarity with the African demands to complete the process of decolonization and support relevant initiatives on the UN platform. The development of a comprehensive partnership with African countries remains among the top priorities of Russia’s foreign policy,” he said.
On another hand, Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Russia is “firmly committed to the “African solutions to African problems” principle. Such an approach to developing inter-State ties dramatically differs from the “master–slave” logic imposed by former metropolitan countries, which reproduces the obsolete colonial model,” he condemned.
Moscow, Lavrov added, “will continue to pursue a peace-loving foreign policy and play a balancing role in international affairs. We are in favour of broad interstate cooperation based on the provisions of the UN Charter, first of all, the principle of the sovereign equality of states.”
The article was published on various African media outlets, especially on Egyptian newspaper “Al-Ahram”, the Congolese “Les Dépêches de Brazzaville”, the Ugandan “New Vision”, as well as the Ethiopian Ethiopia “Herald” and “the Panafrikanist” website. (SPS)
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Russia and Africa: a future-bound partnership
090/500/60 (SPS)