TWENTY-THREE African nations refused to support a United Nations general assembly vote on Thursday condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began a year ago.
The non-binding resolution called for a halt to the fighting and the withdrawal of Moscow’s forces.
Some 141 countries supported the resolution, but 32 abstained and seven voted against it — Belarus, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria, plus two African states, Eritrea and Mali.
Fifteen African nations abstained — Algeria, Angola, Burundi, the Central Africa Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal all declined to take part in the voting.
Speaking earlier this week, Ugandan Foreign Minister Abubaker Jeje Odongo said: “We were colonised and we forgive those who colonised us. Now the colonisers are asking us to be enemies with Russia, who never colonised us; is that fair?”
Chinese deputy UN ambassador Dai Bing told the general assembly on Thursday: “We support Russia and Ukraine in moving towards each other… The international community should make joint efforts to facilitate peace talks.”
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