Senegal: in an interview with the JDD, Macky Sall clarifies his position on Ukraine

Senegalese President and Chairman of the African Union (AU) Macky Sall attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Sochi, June 3, 2022. AFP - MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV

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2 mins

There is an urgent need to solve the problem of access to fertilizers in Africa and part of the solution is at stake in Ukraine.

This is essentially what the Senegalese president and current president of the African Union repeats in

the Sunday newspaper

.

In this interview, published this Sunday, June 19, Macky Sall looks back on his meeting with Vladimir Poutine on June 3 in Sochi.

Accompanied by the chairman of the AU Commission, the Senegalese head of state had spent more than three hours with his Russian counterpart. 

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This interview, given to the French weekly

, is first and foremost an opportunity for the Senegalese president to re-explain his position on the war in Ukraine.

Macky Sall was very clear: " 

In this war, there is indeed an aggressor and an attacked 

," he said.

But for him, it was a duty to accept Vladimir Putin's invitation to dialogue and to speak to Russia to " 

serve Africa and my country, Senegal

 ". 

Indeed, the misdeeds of war weigh heavily on the African continent.

The wheat and especially fertilizer supply market is blocked while many African countries are dependent on Russia and Ukraine.

And for the Senegalese head of state, the most urgent thing is to unblock the supply of fertilizer.

►Also read: Macky Sall "reassured" after his meeting with Vladimir Poutine on cereals

The land must be fertilized in a very short period of time: there is only a month and a half left to do it, specifies Macky Sall, otherwise local cereal production will not be sufficient and certain African countries risk in the face of a sharp deterioration in food security.

The Senegalese president returned to other subjects, in particular that of NATO.

He indicated that during this interview, Vladimir Putin had told him that the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO posed no problem to him.

A confession that surprised the Senegalese president.  

►To see on RFI and France 24: Access to food goods: "I do not doubt Putin's word", says Macky Sall 

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