Ukraine’s foreign minister baffled by SA’s abstention from UN resolution condemning Russia

13 Oct 2022

Dmytro Kuleba says that by abstaining from the United Nations resolution, South Africa is turning a blind eye to Russia’s war crimes.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kubela, says he cannot understand why South Africa did not support a resolution in the UN General Assembly on 12 October condemning Russia for holding illegal referendums in occupied Ukraine last month to try to legitimise annexing four provinces.

“I cannot find any single reasonable argument why South Africa did not support the principle of territorial integrity that [Wednesday’s] resolution defends,” Kuleba said in an online briefing for African journalists on Thursday.

“It’s not just about Ukraine. It’s about the fundamental universal principle of territorial integrity,” Kuleba said. He has just completed the first African tour by a Ukrainian foreign minister, visiting Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Kenya.

The ruling ANC cherishes its relations with Russia because of the Soviet Union’s support to the liberation struggle. But Kuleba recalled that in the 1980s, as a member of the United Nations, Ukraine had presided over the UN General Assembly committee against apartheid and racial discrimination.

“We did everything we could as a member of the United Nations to help South Africa to leave apartheid behind and to build a fair and just society and country based on equality and mutual prosperity.

Read in Daily Maverick: “SA abstains on a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia… again”

“So for these and other reasons, I really cannot explain why South Africa abstained. And why relations with Russia are more important than anything else.”

The General Assembly resolution titled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine: defending principles of the UN Charter” was carried overwhelmingly, with 143 nations for, five against and 35 abstentions. Of these, 30 African nations voted for the resolution, none voted against, 19 abstained and five did not vote.

South Africa’s ambassador to the UN, Mathu Joyini, told the General Assembly that “South Africa considers the territorial integrity of states, including that of Ukraine, to be sacrosanct and we reject all actions that undermine the purposes and principles of the UN Charter”.

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But South Africa had abstained from the vote because it felt some elements of the resolution did not contribute towards the goal of sustainable peace in Ukraine. She did not specify which.

Kuleba suggested he could understand why a country like the Central African Republic, which is militarily dependent on Russia, had abstained from the vote.

Yet other “independent proud nations who do not depend on Russia militarily, also abstained. These abstentions are not abstentions towards Ukraine. This is an attempt to be neutral and abstain from… evaluating the war crimes committed by Russia, the killed children, the raped women, from the capture of territory.

“These abstentions are not about neutrality. These abstentions are about turning a blind eye on these awful crimes committed against the people of Ukraine and the territory of Ukraine.”

Kuleba said he could understand why some nations had remained neutral in the early days of the invasion, when it was still possible to have illusions that Russia could be stopped.

Read in Daily Maverick: “Ahead of special UN session: Failure to condemn Russia could backfire for Africa, warns Ukraine MP”

But by now, as Ukraine liberated cities from Russian occupation and discovered more and more mass graves of murdered civilians and other evidence of atrocities, “how can you still play the game of neutrality and pretend that all this is not happening. And say we want to be friends with both you, Ukraine, and Russia.

“It’s the same as you have a culprit and a victim of his crime and you say I want to be friends with both the guy who tried to kill you and you guy who survived attempted murder.

“It’s time for those countries that play the game of neutrality to seriously reconsider. Because their position doesn’t look nice any more.”

Kuleba said he was pleased that all four of the nations he had visited over the last 10 days had voted for the General Assembly resolution. This included Senegal, which had abstained from the first General Assembly resolution on 2 March condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

He said that on his African tour he had addressed “a few false narratives of Russian propaganda that still find their audiences in African countries”.

“The first lie is that Russia had no other choice but to attack Ukraine — because Ukraine was going to become a member of Nato. This is simply not true. Back in 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, our country was officially a neutral state. This was in our law. But Ukraine’s neutrality did not prevent the Russian attack.

“Russia tries to present it this way in order to legitimise its actions.”

He also asked why, if Russia was so concerned about a neighbouring state intending to join Nato, it had not attacked Finland.

“The second false Russian narrative is that Russia and Ukraine are one nation, and therefore Putin has a right to impose his will on Ukraine. In fact, we are very different nations with our own languages, culture, and history. Imagine your neighbour coming to you and saying your language, culture and history do not exist, and your statehood is a mistake.”

The third “lie” was that Russia wants peace, but “Ukraine refuses to negotiate”.

Kuleba insisted that Russia had rejected several peace proposals from Ukraine.

“Russia states that it seeks negotiations, but what they really propose are only ultimatums which boil down to Ukraine ceasing to exist.”

Kuleba said the purpose of his African tour was not to demand African countries take sides, but to build new, quality partnerships between Ukraine and African nations.

Read in the New York Times: Documenting Atrocities in the War in Ukraine

Ukraine offered many things to Africa: steady and reliable supplies of grain to ensure food security; its vast experience in digital transformation and digital governance; agricultural technologies which could raise the effectiveness of food processing; education and student exchanges; and trade opportunities.

Kuleba said he had discussed with the four African countries the negative consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine on Africa, including its impact on global food security.

He noted, though, that since the UN-brokered agreement in July to lift Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s seaports to allow grain exports, more than 830,000 tonnes of grain had been delivered to African states. And the world price for wheat, as a result, had decreased by 5%.

He said Ukraine was committed to extending the agreement in November and beyond.

“We will also look for ways to make our agriculture products even more accessible, specifically to African partners.”

He confirmed that Ukraine would hold a Ukraine-Africa conference in the first half of next year. DM

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