South Africa urges cooperation at G20 meeting amid tensions over Ukraine

Foreign ministers from the G20 top economies have gathered in South Africa’s Johannesburg, amid geopolitical rifts, tensions over the Ukraine war and with the top US diplomat a notable absentee.

The G20, a group of 19 nations that make up roughly 85% of the world’s GDP and three-quarters of trade, is divided on key issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and climate change.

South Africa, which currently holds the G20 presidency, opened the group’s first major meeting of the year on Thursday.

While expressing concern about the group’s growing divisions, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the G20’s foreign ministers that multilateralism and international law were essential to resolving world crises.

“It is crucial that all of our efforts remain focused on the principles of the UN Charter, multilateralism, and international law. It should be the glue that keeps us together”, Ramaphosa said in his opening remarks.

“Yet there is a lack of consensus among major powers, including in the G20, on how to respond to these issues of global significance”.

The strife was threatening “an already fragile global coexistence”, Ramaphosa said.

After Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month rejected the previously agreed agenda for “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the United States did not attend.

After that, US President Donald Trump stopped providing aid to South Africa in response to a national dispute over its efforts to address historical racial injustices in land ownership and its genocide case against US allies Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and representatives from EU countries who have vowed to support Ukraine and condemn Russia’s aggression, were present at the meeting.

Ukraine tensions

The response to Trump’s dramatic policy shifts, including a plan to reach a deal with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, has divided world leaders.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, and European leaders concerned about this, who have warned Kyiv will not accept any deal made without its assistance.

After the Ukrainian leader challenged the US president, who claimed Kyiv had started the war, Trump and Zelenskyy engaged in a verbal argument.

Against this backdrop, Ramaphosa reminded the attendees “that cooperation is our greatest strength”. “Let us seek to find common ground through constructive engagement”, he said.

“As the G20, we must continue to advocate for diplomatic solutions to conflicts”, he added, including those “raging in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the Sudan, in the Sahel and in Gaza]that] continue to exact heavy human toll and heighten global insecurity”.