Photo : Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
NIAS Area Studies
AFRICA MONITOR
Photo : Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
IN BRIEF
by Apoorva Sudhakar
AU delegation meets Putin; raises concern over grains and fertiliser shortage
On 3 June, African Union Chairperson and Senegal’s President Macky Sall and AU Commission’s Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat met with Russia’s President Vladmir Putin in Moscow. Sall told Putin that though African countries were far from the war in Ukraine, they were “victims on an economic level.” Following the meeting, Sall tweeted that Putin had assured that Russia could ease Ukraine’s export of cereals and Russia’s export of wheat and fertiliser. Meanwhile, Russia blamed the West’s sanctions which impacted Russia’s exports. However, Germany rejected Russia’s position and accused Putin of attempting to frame the narrative “that it's the West that's responsible for the famine threatening Africa” and not Russia’s war in Ukraine. (“Africans 'victims' of the Ukraine war, AU head tells Putin,” Deutsche Welle, 3 June 2022)
UK to begin deportation to Rwanda on 14 June
On 3 June, BBC reported 17 asylum seekers near Sussex had launched a hunger strike after they received notices for deportation to Rwanda as part of the UK’s latest asylum deal. The hunger strike was launched after UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said the deportation of the first batch of asylum seekers would begin on 14 June. The Home Office did not specify the number of people that would be deported; however, an aid agency estimates around 100 asylum seekers who arrived in May have received warnings of deportation. (Mohamed Shalabey and Emir Nader, “Asylum seekers stage hunger strike as UK prepares Rwanda deportation,” BBC, 3 June 2022)