Dylan Bettencourt
Russia and Ukraine agreed a deal to resume the export of grain through the Black Sea, to the relief of many African who rely on the warring nations for food imports.
The agreement, which was reached on, will allow millions tonnes of grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports since the country was invaded by Russia on 24 February.
The blocking of Ukraine’s grain exports has resulted in a global food crisis and a particular shortage of wheat-based products such as bread and pasta as well as cooking oil.
The shortage has driven up the prices of food across the globe, and threatened major famine in several African countries which rely on Ukrainian and Russian exports.
South Africa is one of the nations who have suffered due to the shortages and President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the agreement.
He said the shortage has made African leaders consider the future of food supplies.
“Our continued reliance on massive amounts of grains from that part of the world should be seen as a risk and a real danger to the 1.3 billion people in africa. We need to use this conflict as a wake-up call,” Ramaphosa said at a news conference.
The president was joined by Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara who claimed Africa has to be on the top of the grain recipient list.
“I indicated to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky that I wanted the supply to be made a priority for the African continent because of its fragile economies and the social situation in many countries,” he said.
However, celebrations over the deal were cut short when the major Odesa Port was bombed just a day after the agreement was signed.
“The enemy attacked the Odesa sea trade port with Kalibr cruise missiles; 2 missiles were shot down by air defense forces; 2 hit the infrastructure of the port,” Ukraine’s Operational Command South wrote on the Telegram.
Russia denied they were responsible for the attack but the future of the deal remains unclear.
If it goes ahead, the Horn of Africa is set to benefit from the deal as the region battles food shortages caused by drought, Covid-19, a locust invasion as well as the conflict in Ukraine.
The deal took two months to be concluded and is set to last only 120 days with a monitoring centre being established in Istanbul staffed by the United Nations.
Zelensky confirmed that his nation has around R150 billion worth of grain to sell, resulting in a 2% decrease in wheat prices over the weekend.
Image source: @WorldCrunch
