Johannesburg - The ANC has urged the United Nations Security Council to find a peaceful solution to the Russia / Ukraine conflict.
Addressing the media on Thursday after the party’s National Working Committee, ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said it has expressed deep concern regarding the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“It reaffirmed the ANC’s conviction that international relations should be underpinned by a commitment to development, democracy, human rights, peace and security, in line with the clarion call by the Freedom Charter that ’There Shall be Peace and Friendship!’
“It expressed its abhorrence at the suffering caused to ordinary people in every country that is involved, either directly or indirectly, in this conflict and called upon progressive formations globally to ensure that any harm to civilians invites appropriate repercussions in line with the values of a humane, just, equitable, democratic, and free world,” Mabe said.
He said the NWC had reiterated the call by President Ramaphosa that the UN Security Council should pursue a peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the conflict in line with the precepts of the UN Charter.
Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Candith Mashego-Dlamini on Wednesday denied in Parliament, during questions to Ministers in the security cluster, that South Africa was sitting on the fence on Russia’s attacks in Ukraine.
She said South African has been calling for Russia and Ukraine to find a solution to the conflict that started last week when Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
She was it would be in the interest of the two countries that a solution was found.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Ukraine since the conflict began and UN agencies have said more than one million people have crossed the border to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and other European countries.
POLITICAL BUREAU