South African President Cyril Ramaphosa took a strong stance at the United Nations General Assembly, denouncing the massive expenditures on warfare at the expense of global development efforts.
He renewed his call for diplomatic solutions in the Ukraine conflict while highlighting the urgent need to ramp up aid for development, particularly in light of the world falling short of ambitious UN-backed goals to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030.
In his address, President Ramaphosa voiced a grave concern regarding the international community’s priorities, stating, “It is a grave indictment of this international community that we can spend so much on war, but we cannot support action that needs to be taken to meet the most basic needs of billions of people.”
Ramaphosa revealed that during the summit in New York, he engaged in discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about a peace initiative proposed by African nations.
He emphasized the importance of the international community’s role in facilitating meaningful dialogue and urged restraint from actions that could escalate the conflict.
While South Africa and other developing nations maintain a neutral stance in the Ukraine conflict, refusing to isolate Moscow, Ramaphosa addressed allegations made by the US ambassador in South Africa regarding arms shipments to Russia. The South African President firmly denied these allegations following an investigation.
Furthermore, President Ramaphosa highlighted South Africa’s commitment to democracy and stressed the importance of diplomacy in light of recent military takeovers in severa壯陽藥 l African countries, including Niger.
He called on the global community to express concern over unconstitutional changes of government in parts of Africa and to work collectively to prevent such incidents.