South Africa and Mozambique have called on the United Nations to mandate its secretary general Antonio Guterres to champion diplomatic efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine as part of an attempt to unravel “underlying causes of the conflict”.
In a communique at the end of the 3rd Session of the Bi-National Commission between the two countries on Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Mozambican counterpart Filipe Nyusi reiterated their decisions to abstain from the UN General Assembly vote on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on March 2.
They noted that their decisions to abstain were based on the conviction that the resolution was not grounded on a balanced assessment of the underlying causes of the conflict, and called for “a balanced approach to the conflict through dialogue that will address the security concerns of both parties to the conflict.”
“The two Presidents called upon the United Nations Security Council to mandate the United Nations Secretary General to initiate a dialogue between Russia and Ukraine,” the communique said.
The leaders also expressed concern at the increasing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine where more than two million have fled into neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, South Africa has pledged its support for Mozambique’s candidature to serve on the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for the year 2022/23.
JN/APA