04.08.2022 22:27
African tour on heels of Russian foreign minister’s visit last week to Uganda.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield arrived Thursday in Uganda to focus on how Washington could help Uganda deal with its food crisis.
Thomas-Greenfield said high energy prices, climate change, coronavirus and increasing conflict have pushed millions of Africans "to the brink," and that Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has added to the crisis "especially since some countries in Africa once got up to 75% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine."
Uganda relies on wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia to supplement its local food sources. Russia supplied 33% of Uganda's wheat in 2020, while Ukraine sent 17%, according to COMTRADE, a UN trade data collection agency.
Thomas-Greenfield visited a grain factory in a Kampala suburb that collaborates with USAID through its Strategic Investments Activity, to see how the company can be helped to boost production.
The trip by the American diplomat, who came to Uganda as part of an African tour, comes on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit last week to Uganda, Egypt, Ethiopia and the Republic of Congo where he accused the US and European countries of driving up food prices.
Lavrov rejected accusations that Russia was exporting hunger and blamed the West for worsening the situation for food imports. -