Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday ended his tour of Africa with an initially unannounced visit to Eritrea, where he promised military support to the country and discussed “the dynamics of the war in Ukraine” with local officials, DPA, EFE, Agerpres reported. agencies..

Sergey LavrovPhoto: – / Sputnik / Profimedia

His African tour began in South Africa (which plans to hold joint military maneuvers with Russia and China), continued in Eswatini and Angola, and ended in Eritrea, the country that has been led by President Isaias Afwerki since independence from Ethiopia in 1991. a repressive regime that earned his country the nickname “Africa’s North Korea”.

Eritrea was among the few African countries that voted against the UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but many other African countries abstained.

In a conversation with his Eritrean counterpart, Osman Saleh, Lavrov thanked the government of Asmera for “considered and principled position on issues concerning Ukraine.”

For his part, the Eritrean minister explained the war in Ukraine as a “reckless policy of hegemony and isolation” of other countries, carried out by the United States. “It is sad that Ukraine is both the cause and the victim of this policy,” added Minister Osman Saleh.

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Lavrov also met with President Isaias Afwerki, with whom he discussed military cooperation, a peace deal signed in Ethiopia between its government and rebels in Tigray province after a war in which Eritrea supported the Ethiopian army, and economic cooperation initiatives.

“We are ready to meet Eritrea in terms of supporting its defense capability, and we will certainly cooperate in humanitarian issues,” signaled the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Lavrov’s trip to Africa coincided with visits by high-ranking American officials who cross the continent to strengthen Washington’s ties with that part of the world. Such actions of the West in the last year were focused on the countries of the so-called “global south”, namely on the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, which did not express a clear position regarding the condemnation of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

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