The Russia-Ukraine war has negatively impacted Africa, which largely depends on wheat from both countries.  In June 2022, an African Union delegation traveled to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin, for possible avenues to curb those impacts. 

The first grain shipment under the agreement signed by several parties -Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye, and the UN- last June, left Ukraine for the Horn of Africa on Sunday, August 14. The information was revealed by the UN in a release published on August 16.  

The shipment is made of 23,000 tons of grain destined for food assistance in the region. According to the World Food Program (WFP), it “marks another important milestone in efforts to get much-needed Ukrainian grain out of the war-torn country and back into global markets, to reach people worst affected by the global food crisis.”

“Getting the Black Sea Ports open is the single most important thing we can do right now to help the world’s hungry,” commented WFP Executive Director David Beasley. 

Russia and Ukraine account for over 30 percent of global grain exports. In Africa, many countries depend on those grain exports for their wheat supplies. Therefore, those African countries are seen as some of the most exposed to the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war. 

In June 2022, Senegalese President Macky Sall, the current chair of the African Union (AU), traveled to Russia to negotiate the release of the stock of grains and fertilizers whose blockade had started to affect the global economy, African countries in particular. Another planned visit to Ukraine was aborted.

In the Horn of Africa, hunger is looming after four consecutive failed rainy seasons.  For instance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), by September, the number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity and rising malnutrition could rise to 20 million in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. In the region, inflation has also skyrocketed due to macroeconomic challenges, below-average harvests, and rising prices on international markets.

In a regional overview, the UNHCR estimates that “the cost of a food basket has already risen by 66% in Ethiopia and by 36% in Somalia.”

Jean-Marc Gogbeu