The President of Angola, João Lourenço, today urged the international community to seek an unconditional ceasefire in the war between Moscow and Kiev, arguing that “the world cannot stand” a conflict “in the heart of Europe”.
“At a time when we have not yet managed to overcome the prevailing tension in Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula or the Persian Gulf, any of them with the potential to evolve into a nuclear confrontation, the world can no longer bear the outbreak and maintenance of a new conflict in the heart of Europe by the consequences it has for the global economy, but especially for peace and world security,” said the Angolan head of state while speaking at the plenary of the United Nations Oceans Conference, which began today in Lisbon.
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In a speech in which he focused on the importance of “oceans, seas and the land infrastructure connected to them,” such as commercial ports, João Lourenço exemplified that the blockade of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea “is causing the current global food crisis” due to shortages of cereals, fertilizers and oilseeds.
“In this regard, it is important that the European Union, the United Nations and, in general, the entire international community, prioritize and focus their main efforts on the search for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, followed by negotiations with the parties considered important to achieve and build a peace that is truly lasting for Europe and the rest of the world,” the Angolan leader said.
This is not the first time that João Lourenço calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine, which began on February 24 when Russia invaded the neighboring country.
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In March, during a state visit to Cape Verde, the Angolan president had called on world leaders to “tirelessly” engage in multiple diplomatic contacts in the search for peace and security in Europe; and in April he spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, aiming for an “immediate ceasefire and a return to talks”.
Angola, which has historical relations with Russia since the anticolonial period, even after the disintegration of the USSR, was one of 35 countries that abstained in the United Nations Assembly vote on the resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
