Faith Nyasuguta
On Thursday, fifteen African nations abstained from the UN vote against Russia as the UN General Assembly in New York overwhelmingly backed a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago. Some 28 African nations supported the vote.
The resolution was calling for the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine and a halt to fighting. The measure is not legally binding but holds political weight.
The general assembly was backed by 141 nations with 32 abstaining and seven voting against, it there’d sailed through. Almost half of the abstentions were from Africa.
South Africa, Ethiopia, Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Namibia, Central Africa Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Guinea, Mozambique, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe abstained in the vote.
The only African nations that voted against were Eritrea and Mali.
Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and Guinea-Bissau did not take part in the voting.
Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana and Kenya were among the African countries who backed the vote.
The resolution was welcomed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky describing the move as a powerful signal of global support.
Friday(today) marks exactly a year since the full-scale invasion began.
