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On Friday, August 5, local time, as the diplomatic competition between the United States and Russia in Africa continued to ferment, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations, issued a warning that if African countries bought oil from Russia, the United States would "take action."
The remarks came from Thomas Greenfield's visit to three African countries. Just a week earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had visited the region to offer to facilitate oil trading and cooperation on oil infrastructure.
Before setting off, Thomas Greenfield acknowledged that African countries were suffering from soaring energy and food prices, and that the focus of her trip would be on finding solutions. The Nile Post reported that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni met with the American diplomat in the capital, Kampala, on Thursday and held a meeting.
During the talks, Museveni referred to Uganda's food security problems and said that U.S. sanctions on Russian oil, and the resulting spike in energy prices, have had a serious negative impact on the third world.
"If you really want to help the Third World, why not exclude us from sanctions in this conflict in which we are not involved?" Museveni said, "Our top priority is the high cost of fuel, and the high cost of transportation affects the price of commodities. ”
Later that day, Thomas Greenfield gave a public response at a press conference. Although she said the visit to African countries would be a "listening tour," she made tough remarks at the meeting, saying the current energy crisis was not triggered by U.S. sanctions and was rooted in Russian military action.
"The problem is not the sanctions, but the unprovoked war that Russia has launched against Ukraine," she said, "and if they want to stop the sanctions, they have to stop the war." ”
At the same time, Thomas Greenfield also responded strongly to Museveni's remarks and drew a red line for African countries to trade with Russia. "Countries can buy Russian agricultural products, including fertilizers and wheat," she enumerated, but then stressed that Russian oil is a sanctioned commodity.
"We warn countries not to violate these sanctions," she stressed, "and if any country violates them, they may be taken." ”
In addition, Thomas Greenfield announced at the meeting that the United States will provide an additional $20 million in grants to help Uganda solve its domestic food problems. She also said OPEC would increase oil production after U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to the Middle East to help ease the international energy price crisis.
(Editor: Kim Ri-wei)