Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the intervention of the UN Security Council in the conflict in Ukraine, saying it was not necessary for people to be killed when there was an option of engagement.
Ramaphosa told a litigation forum on Friday that the UN had to intervene to stop the war in the Ukraine.
Russia launched attacks on Ukraine this week.
But it has been condemned by Western countries who have also sent thousands of troops on the eastern flank in Europe.
Ramaphosa said the UN cannot keep quiet when there were options available to stop the conflict.
He said through negotiation, mediation and engagement what is going on in Ukraine could be stopped.
He said people have been killed and infrastructure damaged.
“This mediation approach seems to be losing its effectiveness. We can see now the war that is going on in the Ukraine, I would say that that conflict is a conflict that should be subjected to mediation, to negotiation, to engagement, because it is not necessary for people to go to war, for getting people killed, infrastructure being damaged as it is now, and it behoves on countries of the world, particularly the UN Security Council.
“They are the ones who should be getting more and more engaged in a mediation and one does not see that happening. One does not see that full engagement, and it is this that should be happening to bring hostilities to an end,” said Ramaphosa.
Political Bureau