EU Bigwigs Beg Africa Not to Blame Them for ChronicShortages
Jun 3, 2022 10:15:44 GMT -5
Post by schwartzie on Jun 3, 2022 10:15:44 GMT -5
Global Food Crisis: EU Bigwigs Beg Africa Not to Blame Them for Chronic Shortages
PETER CADDLE
3 Jun 2022
European Union leaders have begged those in Africa not to blame the West for the ongoing Global Food Crisis, saying that the current sanctions on Russia shouldn’t be affecting supply.
The blame game for the developing global food crisis has well and truly begun, with senior leaders within the European Union begging their counterparts in Africa not to blame Western powers for chronic shortages of grain and other essential resources such as fertilisers.
It comes as a competing narrative from Moscow which claims that Western sanctions on Russia are what is disrupting the global trade of food appears to be gaining traction in some third-party nations, with EU figures calling claims “misinformation”.
According to a report by POLITICO, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was keen to persuade senior African officials that Russia was to blame for any ongoing shortages during a summit on Tuesday.
“It’s a complete misinformation from Russia’s side [that Western sanctions are to blame], the only reason why we are struggling now with a food crisis is because of this brutal, unjustified war against Ukraine,” the Commission President said, before emphasising that she wanted to be “very clear” that Europe has “no sanctions on food and agricultural products”.
However, seemingly in response to similar assertions made by bigwigs in Brussels, African Union chairman Macky Sall said that the narrative that the EU — and not Russia — is to blame for food shortages “is out there”, with many on his continent finding the issue “very serious and alarming”.
Sall also reportedly pressed the issue of Russian banks being thrown off the SWIFT payments system by Western powers, which in turn has hindered the ability of African nations to pay Russia for imported food.
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PETER CADDLE
3 Jun 2022
European Union leaders have begged those in Africa not to blame the West for the ongoing Global Food Crisis, saying that the current sanctions on Russia shouldn’t be affecting supply.
The blame game for the developing global food crisis has well and truly begun, with senior leaders within the European Union begging their counterparts in Africa not to blame Western powers for chronic shortages of grain and other essential resources such as fertilisers.
It comes as a competing narrative from Moscow which claims that Western sanctions on Russia are what is disrupting the global trade of food appears to be gaining traction in some third-party nations, with EU figures calling claims “misinformation”.
According to a report by POLITICO, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was keen to persuade senior African officials that Russia was to blame for any ongoing shortages during a summit on Tuesday.
“It’s a complete misinformation from Russia’s side [that Western sanctions are to blame], the only reason why we are struggling now with a food crisis is because of this brutal, unjustified war against Ukraine,” the Commission President said, before emphasising that she wanted to be “very clear” that Europe has “no sanctions on food and agricultural products”.
However, seemingly in response to similar assertions made by bigwigs in Brussels, African Union chairman Macky Sall said that the narrative that the EU — and not Russia — is to blame for food shortages “is out there”, with many on his continent finding the issue “very serious and alarming”.
Sall also reportedly pressed the issue of Russian banks being thrown off the SWIFT payments system by Western powers, which in turn has hindered the ability of African nations to pay Russia for imported food.
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Continued at link
