The blockade of grain exports from Ukraine could lead to a “catastrophic scenario” of rising prices and food shortages in Africa, European leaders heard on Tuesday.
Macky Sall, chairman of the African Union and president of Senegal, spoke of a worrying food crisis and said “the worst may be ahead of us”, in an address to the European Union as it discussed the fallout of the war.
Mr Sall said fertiliser prices had trebled since last year and that grain yields in Africa were poised to slump by between 20 and 50 per cent this year. Ukraine and Russia are two of the world’s biggest agricultural producers and the war has brought exports via the Black Sea to a standstill.
An EU official said Mr Sall had expressed a desire to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the crisis, after African leaders urged him to contact the Kremlin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Mr Sall called on Europe and Africa to speak with one voice at a time when the Kremlin is pointing the finger at western sanctions for the food crisis, the official said.
But the African leader told EU presidents and prime ministers that sanctions against international payments system Swift were making it more complicated to buy food.
Western leaders reject the Russian narrative and say Moscow is responsible for bringing food exports to a halt by bombarding Ukrainian warehouses and blocking its Black Sea ports.
“This crisis affects our countries particularly because of their strong dependency on Russian and Ukrainian wheat production,” said Mr Sall, according to a written copy of his remarks.
“We want everything to be done to free the available cereal stocks and ensure transportation and access to the market, to avoid the catastrophic scenario of shortages and widespread price rises.”
UN agencies have spoken of alarming food insecurity resulting from the war. The World Food Programme has said it is rationing supplies to displaced people, and the EU blames the crisis for runaway bread prices in Lebanon.
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Rescuers carry the body of civilian from a residential building damaged by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, is feeling the strain after coming under heavy Russian bombardment. Reuters -
Ukrainian troops help an elderly man out of a damaged apartment building after an air strike in the city of Slovyansk in Donbas region. AFP -
A school bus carrying Ukrainian refugees leaves Kharkiv. EPA -
The pain of war hits this woman hard shortly after her apartment building in Slovyansk was damaged by Russian shelling. AFP -
A crater scars the road surface in Slovyansk, Donbas. AFP -
A Russian soldier oversees the loading of steel on to a Russian ship at Mariupol port in Ukraine. AP -
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, left, talk before the second day's session of an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders to discuss Ukraine, energy and food security, in Brussels. AP -
Rescuers extinguish a fire at a meat factory, amid fighting in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A man waits to collect water in Mariupol. AFP -
Ukrainians cross a makeshift bridge built next to a destroyed structure, in the Kharkiv region. EPA -
A destroyed tank in Mariupol. AFP -
People charge electronic devices outside a theatre building, in Mariupol. Reuters -
Pensioner Gennady Ivanov, 83, sits outside a residential building heavily damaged by shelling, in Mariupol. Reuters -
Ukrainian firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a house that was hit by Russian strikes, in Kharkiv. AP -
Russian Navy sailors of the Black Sea Fleet prepare to raise a sunken Ukrainian warship at the sea port, in Mariupol. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier in the city of Lysytsansk, in the eastern region of Donbas. AFP -
A boy, Yarik, plays in a playground in front a building destroyed during attacks, in Irpin. AP -
Two Ukrainian soldiers enjoy a tender off-duty moment near the village of Stoyanka, Kyiv region. GettyImages -
A girl in Kyiv looks at Russian weapons used in the attack on Ukraine. Reuters -
Children play on a destroyed car in a residential area of Mariupol. AFP -
Demonstrators hold Ukrainian flags at a charity telethon in support of Ukraine, in Berlin. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen near Zaytseve village in Donetsk, Ukraine. EPA -
A shell hole near a destroyed building in Zaytseve village. EPA -
In the Saltivka district of Kharkiv, writing on the vans reads "warning, shelling" and "warning, passing by for civilians is prohibited". AFP -
A heavily damaged residential building in the Saltivka district of Kharkiv. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen inspect a Russian amphibious vehicle near Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine. AP -
A rocket launcher belonging to a "Donetsk People's Republic" militia is fired from its position not far from Panteleimonivka, eastern Ukraine. AP -
The damaged building of the economics department of Karazin National University in Kharkiv. AFP -
Karazin National University in Kharkiv came under heavy Russian bombardment. AFP -
Ukrainian troops approach a destroyed military vehicle in the village of Rus'ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv. AFP -
A bridge is a destroyed near Rus'ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv. AFP -
A building after a Russian military strike in the town of Marinka, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region. Reuters -
An employee mows the lawn near a destroyed warehouse refrigerator, belonging to the Chanta factory, in Novi Petrivtsi, near Kyiv. AFP -
Defiant Ukrainian service members ride on top of a military vehicle, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on the road connecting Kostiantynivka and Bakhmut, in Donetsk region. Reuters -
Vladimir Mihailovich, a solar plant manager, surveys a crater after the business in Merefa on the outskirts of Kharkiv was hit by Russian shelling. Reuters -
A KA-52 helicopter gunship fires rockets on a mission at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. AP -
Locals walk past a road damaged by shelling in a residential area in Kharkiv. EPA -
Diana, on the train, waves to her mother Viktoriya and sister Kseniya as she leaves Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. AP -
Yana Skakova and her son Yehor, who fled from Lysychansk, sit in an evacuation train in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine. AP
EU leaders were discussing ways to unblock Ukraine’s ports at their meeting in Brussels. Ukraine has rejected as blackmail a Russian demand that western sanctions be lifted before it can release its own food stocks to ease shortages.
European Council President Charles Michel said the bloc was “sparing no efforts” to find alternative export routes.
“Russia is using food as a weapon of war,” he said, by “destroying crops, blocking tonnes of grain, risking global famine.”
The leaders of Germany and France on Saturday said they had won assurances from Mr Putin that Russia would not exploit a gap in Ukraine’s defences if shipping corridors are established on the Black Sea.
Talks on food security came alongside discussions about energy and defence in the wake of Russia's invasion. The EU late on Monday agreed to block Russian oil imports by sea.
