Grain for geopolitical favor: Russia accuses UN of sidelining Africa and parts of the world

UKRAINE - Vladimir Putin –the Russian president has accessed Ukraine of only shipping their grain to rich European states leaving the African continent.

Putin who was speaking at an economic forum in Russia's Pacific port of Vladivostok pointed out that "nearly all" the Ukrainian grain shipped under an UN-backed deal to ease a global food crisis was reaching rich European nations. An accusation denied by Ukraine.

According to joint research compiled by a joint center in Istanbul monitoring during the month of July agreement showed slightly more than a third of the grain was delivered to European countries and another 20 percent arrived in Turkey.

With only 30 percent reaching "low and lower-middle income countries" across the world.

The shipments are expected to start arriving in famine-stricken parts of Africa and the Middle East under the UN World Food Programme (WFP) whose implementation is just getting underway.

However, Putin has raised concerns about how Africa and other low-income developing countries are treated under the UN-backed deal.

Under the UN-backed deal –Russia was to be allowed Russia to get open access to fertilizer shipments and have some economic sanctions lifted to allow it to export its own grain.

Despite United Nations hailing the deal as the world's best chance to ease an acute global food crisis stoked by the Black Sea grain blockade, Putin said that its current implementation was helping richer European countries at the expense of the developing world."Almost all the grain exported from Ukraine is sent not to the poorest developing countries, but to EU countries."

Dmytro Kuleba- Ukraine's Foreign Minister denied Russia’s claim, saying "In total, two-thirds of the ships sent are directed to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East".

Both countries are two of the world's biggest exporters of wheat and other grain. Russia accused European countries of acting as "colonialists" and said they "once again simply deceived developing countries".

"With this approach, the scale of food problems in the world will only grow. Maybe we should think about limiting the export of grain and other produce along this route?" " Putin said.

The July agreement brokered with the help of Turkey is valid for 120 days and may be automatically renewed without further negotiations. However, it requires both Moscow and Kyiv to sign off on an extension.

US government on the other hand has joined Kyiv in dismissing Russia’s claims as untrue and noted that some grain sent to Europe was then processed for poor nations.

The first UN-chartered vessel docked in Djibouti end of last month as part of a response to the drought gripping the Horn of Africa.

While the second UN ship reached Turkey last week. The wheat is now being milled into flour and will then be loaded onto a new vessel and sent to Yemen at an undisclosed date.

GAROWE ONLINE