Russia Delivers 25,000 Tonnes of Grain to Eritrea Free of Charge, Embassy Announces
Christina Glazkova
Writer / Editor
In December, a ship carrying 25,000 tonnes of Russian wheat for Zimbabwe arrived in the Mozambican port of Beira, and another ship carrying the same amount of free Russian grain for Burkina Faso arrived at a transit point in West Africa.
SputnikA ship with 25,000 tonnes of free grain from Russia arrived in the Eritrean port of Massawa on Thursday, the Russian Ambassador to
Eritrea Igor Mozgo told
Sputnik Africa.
"We are very grateful to the captain of the ship and the entire crew. The Eritreans, I think, will also be pleased and grateful to the Russian government for the free supply of grain to Eritrea. I think that this will be Russia's great contribution to the food security of this country," Mozgo said.
In addition to the Russian Ambassador, the port chief, along with the general manager of the port, Efrem Mekkonen, were also present at the grain receiving ceremony.
Furthermore, he reminded that almost all grain imported by Eritrea is purchased from Russia and accounts for almost 90% of bilateral trade. It is noteworthy that grain imports are increasing annually: according to Mozgo, in 2020 it was 20,000 tonnes, in 2022 – 27,500 tonnes, and this year 33,000 tonnes.
Apart from that, the ambassador is convinced that active cooperation between Russia and African countries frightens the West, which is losing ground on the continent.
"Naturally, our activity on the African continent is alarming and makes Western “democracies” nervous. They are refused to be shaken hands with, by many African countries," he explained. "Some of them are even almost expelled. […] And the West feels that the Earth is leaving from under its feet and, naturally, worries about this. They are losing their attractiveness, losing their weight in African countries."
Meanwhile, the streets of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and several other nations are lined with Russian flags, he added.
Furthermore, Mozgo emphasized that African countries also want to pursue an independent policy, and Eritrea is an example of such a policy.
"Eritrea has long ceased to live under the dictation of the West. There are no ambassadors of the United States, the UK, or Germany in the country. Relations with these countries have been reduced to the level of chargé d'affaires. Russia has a partnership, friendly and equal relationship with Eritrea, as well as with most other countries on the African continent. This, as political scientists aptly put it, is causing heartburn in the collective West," the official told Sputnik Africa.
Lastly, the ambassador drew a parallel between the failure of Western sanctions not only against Russia but also against Eritrea, which had been under punitive measures for almost the entire period of its independence.
"Naturally, any sanctions in any form cause absolute rejection by the Eritrean leadership. And in this regard, the President of Eritrea calls on our Russian leadership to act more actively on the African continent, to establish direct contacts: direct air, sea, and financial communications in order to break through this Western policy," Mozgo added.
Russia intends to act in this direction, the ambassador assured. Moreover, this attitude is confirmed at the highest levels of the Russian leadership: the country's president Vladimir Putin spoke about the development of Russian-African relations at the second Russia-Africa summit in July last year, and this line is also pursued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and personally by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in his contacts with the leaders of African states.
In July, Putin declared that
Russia would provide grain as
humanitarian assistance to six African countries listed by the World Food Program: Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic, Eritrea and Somalia.
In November, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev disclosed that Russia would send up to 200,000 tonnes of Russian wheat free of charge by the end of the year.
Thus, on November 30, Somalia received
25,000 tonnes of humanitarian grain from Russia. Later on December 18, the
Central African Republic also received a batch of free grain.
Burkina Faso is also expected to receive 25,000 tonnes of free grain soon, as a ship carrying the humanitarian aid arrived at a transit point in West Africa in the mid-December, the Russian embassy in Côte d’Ivoire
confirmed to Sputnik Africa.
In addition to grain, Russia also supplies fertilizers to Africa free of charge. Thus, since the end of 2022, Uralchem Group, a Russian fertilizer company, has successfully delivered more than 134,000 tonnes of fertilizer to the continent.
In collaboration with the World Food Program, over 111,000 tonnes of this volume were transported from European ports and warehouses to Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
To help alleviate the "unprecedented" worldwide food crisis and avert agricultural setbacks in countries at risk of starvation, Uralchem Group made a pledge to donate around 300,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers to developing countries, the company
said in a statement in late December.