Ministers of both countries signed an agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul.

Russia has so far blocked sea access to these ports, meaning millions of tons of Ukrainian grain have not been exported to the many countries that depend on it.

“Today there is a beacon on the Black Sea. A beacon of hope – a beacon of opportunity – a beacon of relief – in a world that needs it more than ever,” Guterres said on Friday.

“The advancement of the well-being of humanity has been the driving force behind these talks,” he said. “The question wasn’t what’s good for one side or the other. The focus was on what matters most to the people of our world. And let there be no doubt – this is an agreement for the world.”

Guterres said the agreement will bring relief to developing countries and help stabilize global food prices “which were already at record levels before the war – a real nightmare for developing countries”.

The World Food Program (WFP) estimates 47 million people have fallen into a period of acute hunger as a result of the Ukraine war, and Western officials have accused Russia of using food as a weapon during its invasion.

The deal will also allow unimpeded access of Russian fertilizers to global markets. Russia is a major producer of fertilizers, vital to maximizing food production, and product costs have skyrocketed since the invasion.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said “millions of people will be relieved of this hunger threat” as a result of the deal.

“In the coming days we will see the start of shipping traffic and many countries will get a breath of fresh air,” Erdogan said.

How will this deal work?

As part of the deal signed on Friday, grain vessels led by Ukrainian pilots would navigate through a safe corridor in the Black Sea and then pass through the Bosphorus – a key shipping corridor in northwestern Turkey – to reach global markets.

Ships would be inspected by Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials before arriving in Ukraine to ensure no arms were being smuggled into Ukraine.

The vessels will be overseen by a Joint Coordination Center (JCC) to be set up in Istanbul starting immediately, which will include representatives from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.

Both parties have agreed that none of the ships sailing from these ports to the Black Sea from territorial waters should be attacked from any side.

Before signing the agreement, the Ukrainian government warned Russia against provocations. “No transport escort by Russian ships and no presence of Russian representatives in our ports,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian President’s chief of staff, tweeted on Friday.

“In case of provocations, an immediate military response,” he added.

Podolyak added that Ukraine is not signing an agreement with Russia, but with Turkey and the UN. He also said that inspections of ships in Ukrainian waters would be carried out, if necessary, by joint groups.

The Black Sea will not be demined; A lengthy and complex process that mining experts at the UN, as well as Turkey and Ukraine agreed, was a false start. Naval mines in the Black Sea have severely hampered efforts to resume grain exports, with Ukraine and Russia blaming each other for mining the water.

Why are grain exports so important?

Both Ukraine and Russia are major food suppliers to the world. In normal times, Ukraine – known as one of the world’s breadbaskets – would export around three quarters of the grain produced. According to the European Commission, around 90% of these exports were shipped by sea from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

The war and its impact on grain exports are therefore having a major impact, especially in the Global South, which relies heavily on them. Between disrupting Ukraine’s agricultural production and blocking exports of remaining products, Russia’s war in Ukraine could plunge 49 million people into starvation or starvation-like conditions, the United Nations warned last month.

This year’s harvest is underway in Ukraine, making the negotiations even more urgent. Fields have been attacked in recent days, prompting farmers to save their crops.

Storage problems have also hampered farmers; Last month, a granary was destroyed in the town of Mykolaiv, which Ukraine says was hit by Russia with air-launched cruise missiles.

The UN hopes that under the deal, a monthly export of 5 million tons of grain would leave ports each month, a figure comparable to pre-war levels.

How did the war affect Ukraine’s crops?

While the ability to export grain to the Black Sea is a major breakthrough, the amount Ukraine can ship has been severely impacted by the war.

President of the Grain Union of Ukraine Mykola Horbachov said Friday that unblocking Ukrainian ports is the only way to prevent a global food crisis and save Ukrainian agricultural producers. He said the Russians had stolen about 500,000 tons of grain in the occupied territories, and about 1 million tons of grain remained in the elevators under the occupiers’ control.

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s grain traders’ union said it expected a grain and oilseed harvest of 69.4 million tonnes, slightly higher than previous forecasts but well below the 106 million tonnes harvested last year.

Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskiy said the grain harvest could be at least 50 million tons, compared to 86 million tons in 2021. At least half of that production is for export, according to the trade union.

Wheat production and exports may be most at risk in an already tight global market. French consultancy Agritel said this month it expects Ukraine to harvest 21.8 million tons of wheat this summer, compared to 32.2 million tons last year.

Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov described the contract, which he signed at the ceremony in Istanbul, as “a great support for the Ukrainian economy”.

Will Russia stick to the agreement?

Western officials have accused Russia of deliberately stalling the global supply chain during the country’s war in Ukraine. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said food was part of the Kremlin’s “arsenal of terror” and the US accused him of “weaponizing” food.

The US and other Western nations welcomed Friday’s agreement. But US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned Thursday when an agreement in principle was reached that Washington would focus on “holding Russia accountable for the implementation of this agreement.”

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Friday: “Britain and our allies have been pushing hard to get to this point. Now this agreement must be implemented and we will ensure that Russia’s actions match its words.”

The preliminary number is one Malian soldier killed and six wounded, including one civilian. Seven attackers were “neutralized” and eight were arrested. This is the first terrorist attack on the strategic base of Kati.

The Malian army said on Friday July 22 it repelled a “terrorist” attack attributed to jihadist suicide bombers targeting at least one soldier outside the capital Bamako in the garrison town of Kati, the heart of the military apparatus and residence of, killed the leader of the ruling junta.

“Malian forces have just contained another desperate attempt by terrorists from the Katiba Macina,” affiliated with the jihadist group Al-Qaeda, “who attempted kamikaze actions at around 05:00 this morning (local time and GMT) using two explosive-filled car bombs against a facility of the direction of the material, hydrocarbons and transport of the armies,” the staff of the Malian Armies explained in a press release.

Very deteriorated security situation

The preliminary toll of this attack is one Malian soldier killed and six wounded, including one civilian, and 7 attackers “neutralized”, 8 arrested and a lot of material recovered, the statement said. Several residents reported to the AFP news agency early on that the Kati base had been “attacked”. “We were woken up at 5 a.m. by gunshots and the sound of explosions,” a local resident said on condition of anonymity.

Also read Mali: a fortress inspired by military genius Vauban to stop Islamist terrorism

“The situation is under control and a manhunt is underway to track down the perpetrators and their accomplices,” the army said on its Facebook page this morning. The helicopters that flew over the military base after the attack landed and residents resumed employment in the city, an AFP journalist noted at noon. The strategic base of Kati, which is only about ten miles from Bamako, has never been the direct target of a jihadi attack.

SEE ALSO – Mali: 132 civilians killed in attacks by suspected jihadists

The current military authorities violently seized power in Kati on August 18, 2020 before “descending” to Bamako. In Kati, where Colonel Assimi Goïta, President of the Transition, and his powerful Defense Minister, Colonel Sadio Camara, reside, the figures arrested during the coups are systematically detained. Despite a much deteriorated security situation, the junta turned its back on France and its partners, preferring to rely on Russia to try to contain the spread of jihadism, which spread to much of the country as well as Burkina Faso and neighboring ones Niger has spread.

Coordinated Attacks

This attack came the day after a series of near-simultaneous raids attributed to jihadists in six different locations in Mali, in the regions of Koulikoro (near Bamako), and in Ségou and Mopti (centre). At dawn Thursday, at the same time as Friday’s shootings, gunmen identified by the army as members of the Katiba Macina attacked checkpoints, gendarmerie and military camps, notably in the village of Kolokani, a hundred kilometers north of Bamako .

Also readMali: Army announces it has ‘neutralized’ more than 60 jihadists

It was the first time since 2012 that such coordinated attacks had taken place so close to the capital in the middle of the rainy season. But the frequency of attacks on previously spared regions in southern Mali has increased in recent months. Mali, a poor, landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, has been caught in a spiral of multiple violence for the past decade.

IS jihadists

Initially in the grip of a conflict with separatist rebel groups who have signed a peace deal since 2015, the country faces a multitude of armed groups linked to global jihadi fogs. The main coalition is the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, JNIM in Arabic), affiliated with al-Qaeda and led by Iyad Ag Ghali. The GSIM, whose influence on the ground continues to grow, includes a variety of groups, including the Katiba Macina, and operates primarily in Mali and Burkina Faso.

Also present are jihadists from the organization Islamic State (IS), who are based in the so-called border triangle between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and on the border between Mali and Niger. Adding to the relentless violence is a tense political situation between the junta and its western and regional partners, tainted by repeated diplomatic hiccups.

economic sanctions

First with France, which urged Mali to exit in early 2022 after nine years of military presence in the country via Operation Serval and then Barkhane. Then with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which for six months severely sanctioned Mali for failing to meet its commitments, particularly on the thorny issue of civilians’ return to power.

Also read Mali: The Tuareg united against terrorism

Economic and financial sanctions were finally lifted in early July after an election plan for the next presidential election in February 2024 was presented. The ECOWAS mediator, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, is currently in Bamako where he is due to meet the leader of the junta.

SEE ALSO – Mali: Junta sets deadline for civilians to return to power at 2 years

There will be two unpublished chambers, reduced by about 30% of parliamentarians, which will meet at the end of October after the elections are passed. The constitutional reform introduced in 2020 has reduced the number of MPs from 630 to 400 and the number of elected senators from 315 to 200, plus five senators for life. An unprecedented situation with questions on parliamentary activity.
While the shearing will solve the atavistic problems of the working spaces for parliamentarians and parliamentary groups, questions about the functionality of the bodies arise, especially for the Senate. Next week, the Palazzo Madama room will reduce the number of permanent commissions from 14 to 10, merging some of them (Foreign Affairs and Defence, Environment and Public Works, Industry and Agriculture, Labor and Health). However, the small and medium-sized groups will have one or two senators on each commission, which will prevent their specialization and require greater use of outside technicians and departmental legislators. The other problem concerns the bicameral commissions and bodies like Copasir, Rai Vigilanza, Antimafia. These must, for example, avoid meeting in connection with the House and Senate standing committees in the early afternoon (when there are not two classrooms), otherwise the quorum will be missed in one or the other. For the bicamerals, calls come at sunrise or sunset.
There are no such problems for the Chamber, while journalists will find it easier to remember the names and faces of 600 elected officials than 915.

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The opening of the 42.4-kilometer artery was part of the XXII. East African Community Summit, where Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta handed rotating command of the bloc to his Burundian counterpart Evariste Ndayishimiye.

Also present were the heads of state of Tanzania (hostess) Samia Suhulu Hassan, of Uganda Yoweri Museveni, and of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who is attending the meeting as a guest to discuss Mogadishu’s entry into the sub-regional organization.

Dignitaries at the State House, the seat of government in Arusha, hailed the project as an important factor in integration, improving the movement of goods and people and boosting trade.

Kenyatta said it would help alleviate traffic congestion in the city center, which is the permanent seat of the East African Community, as well as help connect the region and fight poverty.

Infrastructure is essential to achieve the common goal of a common market, said the Kenyan President, who will leave his country’s highest office after the August 9 general election.

Reports were presented during the meeting on the status of the ongoing integration of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and on the Nairobi peace process in the vast country, which is particularly unstable in the eastern part.

In addition to English, the agenda also included the inclusion of French and Swahili as official languages ​​of the community.

There was also the appointment of judges of the East African Court of Justice (EJC), approving laws approved by that body and awarding prizes to the winners of a children’s competition held by the organisation.

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