The U.S. hosted the defence officials of several countries on Tuesday at the Ramstein U.S. air base in Germany for the Ukraine conference, amongst them were African nations.
Four African countries were invited to the defence summit organised by the United States to push for more support for Ukraine against Russia.
The U.S. hosted the defence officials of several countries on Tuesday at the Ramstein U.S. air base in Germany for the conference.
The list of invited countries reported by Breaking Defence show that 43 countries, including non-NATO states, were invited. Among them are Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Tunisia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Qatar and Jordan, Sweden and Finland. It was not clear whether the African countries attended the meeting, or why they were invited.
African nations have been torn between supporting Russia and Ukraine, and many have tried to maintain neutrality at the official level. At the last United Nations general assembly vote on the expulsion of Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, half of them, including Nigeria, abstained.
Although one of the first to condemn Russia’s invasion, Kenya stayed away from the vote, and so did Tunisia and Morocco. Liberia voted in favour of the suspension.
Ukraine had earlier recalled its ambassador in Morocco for failing to convince the Moroccan government to punish Russia. Morocco has chosen to remain neutral by not participating in UN votes on Russia, a move many suspect is as a result of Morocco’s actions on Western Sahara.
Tuesday’s conference secured pledges from allies to sustain military aid to Ukraine throughout the war. The meeting saw a major pledge from Germany, which said it would deliver tanks to Ukraine in a radical switch in policy on the supply of military equipment to the country.
“We do want to make it harder for Russia to threaten its neighbours and make it less able to do that,” Deutsche Welle quoted U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin as saying. Mr Austin added the conference would transform into a monthly contact group on Ukraine’s self-defence.
The German government at the conference confirmed reports it would approve a delivery of anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine. This was announced by German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht.
Under the plan, Berlin will grant weapons company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann permission to send “Gepard” anti-aircraft cannon tanks — the German word for cheetah — to Ukraine. Ms Lambrecht also said Ukrainian soldiers were being trained to use artillery systems in Germany.
“We are working together with our American friends in training Ukrainian troops on artillery systems on German soil,” DW quoted her as saying.
Other countries are also lending their support by donating various warfare equipment: the UK said it has distributed more than 200,000 items so far, including 4,800 NLAW anti-tank missiles, and a small number of Javelin missiles. It has also provided Starstreak anti-air missiles and tanks.
France is sending its Caesar mobile howitzer, and the Czech Republic is delivering its older self-propelled howitzers. As well as also sending howitzers, Canada is to deliver guided “Excalibur” shells that can travel more than 40 kilometres (25 miles) and deliver precisely targeted munitions.
-Premiumtimes
