A head of a trip to Uganda and Ghana this week, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said in an interview that it would be a listening tour and that she wanted to find solutions, not assign blame, over a food insecurity crisis intensifying on the African continent since Russias invasion of Ukraine. But after arriving in Uganda, she warned African countries that there were red lines they should not cross. Countries can buy Russian agricultural products, including fertilizer and wheat, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said on Thursday, according to The Associated Press. But, she added, if a country decides to engage with Russia, where there are sanctions, then they are breaking those sanctions. Buying Russian oil could constitute breaking those sanctions. The U.S. banned imports of Russian oil and natural gas in March, and the European Union will ban most imports of Russian oil by the end of the year. We caution countries not to break those sanctions, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said, because then they stand the chance of having actions taken against them. Most African countries have tried to stay well out of Russias fight with Ukraine. Nevertheless, they have suffered its consequences. Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of grain to African countries, and rising prices as a result of the war compounded by droughts, conflict and the lingering economic effects of the pandemic have hit families hard. Hundreds of millions of people in Africa do not have enough to eat. According to the humanitarian aid organization Alima, nearly a million people are at risk of dying in one region alone: the Sahel, a vast tract of land south of the Sahara.
This is what always happen. Russia and the US are going at it. And Africa gets fucked because of it.