Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced on Wednesday that he will not join other African leaders on an upcoming peace mission to Kiev and St. Petersburg due to ill health.
Museveni, who tested positive for Covid-19 on June 7, said he was still in self-isolation because tests this week revealed he had not yet recovered.
Seven African heads of state seeking an end to the Ukraine conflict have agreed to meet with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the two leaders' respective countries on Friday and Saturday. With Museveni absent, the delegation will consist of the leaders of the Comoros, Egypt, South Africa, Senegal, Congo, and Zambia, while a deputy will represent Uganda.
Museveni said his six counterparts are due to arrive in Poland on Thursday where they will board a train to Kiev to mediate in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“I have now sent an official message that, on account of my continued corona status, I cannot join the group,” he tweeted.
While wishing the mission success, Museveni added that his envoy for special duties, Ruhakana Rugunda, has been designated to represent Kampala.
The African peace initiative, dubbed ‘The Road to Peace’, was announced by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month.
Both Ukraine and Russia agreed to host and listen to the delegation from a continent that has been hit hard by the crisis’s spillover effects.
Ramaphosa has decried the “devastating” conflict, saying the African continent “is also suffering a great deal” from it.
The South African leader has insisted that Pretoria will not be drawn into a global power struggle and that it has adopted a neutral stance in line with its longstanding independent foreign policy.
Investment firm Stanlib Asset Management has warned that South Africa could lose up to $32.4 billion in export revenue as a result of its refusal to take a stand against Russia in the Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers is urging the White House to punish Pretoria by depriving it of trade benefits under Washington’s African Growth and Opportunity Act program.