Yet another batch of food aid weighing 50,000 tonnes was delivered from Russia to the CAR, Russian Ambassador to Bangui Alexander Bikantov, told Russian media on Thursday.
“Yesterday, the first ship with Russian food humanitarian aid was unloaded in the port of Douala [Cameroon]. Today, the unloading of the second ship with Russian wheat should begin. The total volume of assistance is 50,000 tonnes of Russian grain,” he said.
In late July of last year, Turkey and UN-mediated Black Sea Grain Initiative, which provided for a humanitarian corridor to allow exports of Ukrainian grain over the past year, expired, as Russia did not renew its participation in the deal.
Moscow emphasized that the deal's component on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports had not been fulfilled and that most of the supplies were ending up in rich European states instead of poor countries in Africa.
Nevertheless, at the second Russia-Africa Summit in July, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged that his country would provide free humanitarian grain aid to six African countries identified by the World Food Program as being in need due to conflict, climate change, and other factors.
Thus, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea have already received their 25,000 tonnes batches of free grain. Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe are also expected to receive the aid soon.