Escalating accusations between Russia and the West... The United Nations warns of global famine and Africa's concerns are exacerbating

The United Nations warned Friday that the war in Ukraine threatens to create a hunger crisis around the world.

While Moscow declared its readiness to export grain on condition that sanctions be lifted, Berlin condemned Moscow's attempts to blame the West for creating a famine in Africa.

With 100 days into the war, the UN coordinator for the Ukraine crisis, Amin Awad, said more negotiations were needed to open trade corridors across the Black Sea.

He considered that "not opening those ports will lead to famine, unrest and mass migration around the world," noting that the shortage of wheat and other grains could affect 1.4 billion people across the world.

Russia has closed Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea since the start of what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine, thus preventing the export of its grain, which fed 400 million people last year, and the situation has become more urgent with the approach of the harvest season.

Awad stressed that the organization is conducting intensive negotiations to allow the export of tens of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain and to prevent a global food crisis, expressing very cautious optimism.

The negotiations are led, in particular, by the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebecca Greenspan, according to what the United Nations Coordinator in Ukraine Amin Awad revealed to reporters in Geneva during a regular press conference via the Internet.

3D Crisis

In the same regard, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the war in Ukraine was fueling a three-dimensional global crisis in food, energy and finance.

Guterres added, in a tweet on Twitter, that the effects of the war are threatening more vulnerable countries, economies and their populations, and that a quick end to the war is better for Ukraine, Russia and the world.

For his part, US President Joe Biden said that Putin's war in Ukraine is causing prices to rise, considering that grain shipments from Ukraine have been halted due to the Russian invasion.

Biden noted that Ukraine has 20 million tons of grain that it cannot export to the world market due to the Russian invasion.

Senegalese President Macky Sall meets with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin today in Sochi (Reuters)

Africa..a victim of conflict

In this context, the President of the African Union called on Senegalese President Macky Sall his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to realize that African countries are victims of the conflict in Ukraine.

Sall added, during a meeting with President Putin in Sochi, Russia, that global food supplies should not form part of the sanctions against Russia.

For his part, the Russian President said that sanctions against his country have exacerbated the food crisis and that it has no outlets for grains and fertilizers.

At the conclusion of a meeting that brought together the two parties, in addition to the head of the African Commission, Moussa Faki, the head of the African Union said that Putin expressed his readiness to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain.

Sall indicated, in his tweet to him on Twitter, that Russia had expressed its willingness to guarantee the export of its wheat and fertilizers.

He called on all those he described as partners to lift the sanctions imposed on wheat and fertilizers.

Russian terms

For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed Russia's readiness to supply grain to countries in need, provided that restrictions imposed in this regard are lifted.

In her weekly press briefing, Zakharova said that if the mines are removed from Ukrainian ports, Russia will be ready to ensure the security of grain-carrying ships and their escorts.

She added that Moscow had restored work in the ports of Mariupol, accusing the West of preventing foreign ships from leaving the ports.

On the other hand, the German Foreign Ministry strongly condemned what it considered as attempts by the Russian president to blame the West for creating a famine in Africa.

The German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed that the threat of starvation threatening the world was caused by Russian aggression, not by Western sanctions.

A wheat farm in Ukraine (Reuters)

Belarus proposes

Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed by phone the issue of grain transportation from Ukraine.

In a statement, the state agency "Belta" stated that Lukashenko confirmed Minsk's readiness to supply the Baltic ports with Ukrainian grain through its territory.

The statement indicated that the Belarusian president expressed his readiness to help transport grain by Belarusian railways.

Lukashenko also suggested holding talks with the participation of representatives of Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states to solve problems in this regard.

limited retreat

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) food price index witnessed a limited decline, for the second month in a row, compared to its level in March.

However, the prices of foodstuffs that make up the index witnessed a difference. While the prices of sugar, vegetable oils and dairy decreased as a result of the decline in demand and the easing of some export restrictions, the prices of meat rose to an unprecedented level.

Wheat and grain prices also rose.

The food price index is still up by about 23% compared to the same month last year, due to factors including fears of the repercussions of Russia's war on Ukraine on food supplies.