ST. PETERSBURG: Some African leaders arrived in Russia on Wednesday for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin searches for more allies during the war with Ukraine.
Putin has billed the 2-day summit that would start today (Thursday) in St. Petersburg as a big event that would help bolster relations with a continent of 1.3 billion people that is rapidly assertive on the world stage.
On Wednesday, the Russian leader held one-on-one meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and said Moscow would increase the number of Ethiopian students it hosts to more than triple and cover their education expenses.
Ethiopia has been under pressure from the United States and the World Food Program (WFP) after they took the extraordinary decision to suspend food assistance to the country earlier this year following the discovery of major theft of aid. It wanted reforms that involve the government giving up controls over assistance distribution.
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Meanwhile, watchdogs are issuing warnings that hunger is rising in regions like Tigray that is recovering from 2 years of conflict.
Later in the day, Putin would also meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Africe divided on criticising Russia
Africa’s fifty-four countries make up the largest voting bloc at the United Nations (UN) and have been more divided than any other continent on General Assembly resolutions lamenting Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
It is the second Russia-Africa gathering since 2019. The number of leaders attending shrank from fourty-three then to seventeen now due to what the Russia described as a crude Western pressure to discourage African countries from atending.
