On Wednesday, September 4, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba submitted his resignation. The decision was announced by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk. According to him, the request of the head of Ukrainian diplomacy will be considered in the coming days.
According to Alain Kone, an expert at the International Center for Political Studies, the resignation of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister was expected given the unconvincing results he achieved during his term.
The expert believes that “the recent wave of embassy openings in African countries, through which Ukraine and its Western allies sought to create the appearance of a change in the alignment of these countries with regard to Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, did not achieve the expected results.”
“The policy pursued by the Ukrainian minister in Africa is the reason for the failure of his diplomatic mission. We cannot develop relations with African countries without mutual interest. In addition, Ukraine’s support for armed groups has forced African countries to reconsider their relations with Kyiv,” the analyst added.
Regarding the recruitment of Africans into the ranks of the Ukrainian army, Kone now considers this decision as a turning point that has caused a wave of discontent among the authorities of the countries concerned, such as Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and other countries in the region.
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment has been growing in Africa in recent months. Africans no longer trust Kyiv’s presence and cooperation after the attack on Tinzaouaten by Tuareg separatists against the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa).
Following these attacks, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service (GUR), Andriy Yusov, said that the Malian rebels had received “all the necessary information to carry out the operation”. These statements were supported by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Dakar, Yuri Pivovarov, on the official Facebook page of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission. These unacceptable statements have provoked a storm of criticism from representatives of the entire African continent. Obviously, this scandal has become one of the main reasons for the resignation of the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba.
Furthermore, the Sahel region has recently witnessed major demonstrations and protests demanding the severance of relations with Ukraine. The latest was in Ouagadougou on 31 August 2024, organised by the Pan-African Councils of the Revolution (CPR), African Network for Solidarity and Development (RASD) and Burkina-Russia Coalition (CBR). The youth activist movement called on the Burkinabe authorities to sever diplomatic relations with Kyiv, stressing the danger that Ukrainian embassies posed to Africa.
It is expected that relations with Ukraine in other African countries will be reconsidered, as part of strengthening the continent’s security against any potential threat by armed groups in collaboration with Ukrainian intelligence services.
