The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) must disavow the words of its commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah or risk damage to its relations and reputation, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said. Musah had accused Kiev of genocide in the Donbass and terrorism.
Musah is the ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security. He took part in the Russia-Africa Partnership ministerial forum in the Krasnodar Region last week.
“The groundless and insulting accusations of Ukraine in committing ‘genocide in Donbas’, ‘state terrorism’ and involvement towards destabilization of the African countries in the region mindlessly reproduce the Russian propaganda that has nothing to do with the reality,” the Foreign Ministry in Kiev said on Wednesday.
Ukraine is “deeply outraged” over Musah’s “scornful and fake” statements, which undermine relations between Kiev and the bloc and “also cause serious damage to the reputation of ECOWAS,” the ministry added.
Kiev “demands” that the ECOWAS leadership “resolutely condemn the shameful statements of its representative” and “avoid similar declarations in future,” the ministry concluded.
Speaking at one of the panels in Sochi on Saturday, Musah argued that Russia was “forced to respond to aggression” by Ukraine in Donbass, as well as the destruction of the Russian language and culture in the territory ruled by Kiev.
“If this is not genocide, then what is it?” Musah said. “We are also aware of Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk Region in August, which can also be considered as state terrorism.”
Russia has characterized the incursion of Ukrainian forces into the border region as terrorism. President Vladimir Putin has also accused the US-backed nationalists in Kiev, who seized power in a 2014 coup, of committing a de facto genocide against the Russian speakers in Donbass and elsewhere.
The ECOWAS commissioner also said that Russia has “always stood with the people of Africa who fought for their freedom and continues to support us in the fight against terrorism.”
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso – former ECOWAS member states – have turned to Russia for security assistance in recent years, accusing France of failure in the fight against various rebel and terrorist groups.
Russia has accused Ukraine of aiding terrorist groups in the Sahel, pointing to Kiev’s recent admission that it provided aid to Touareg militants, who ambushed a patrol of Malian government troops and Russian contractors this summer. Mali and Niger responded by severing diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
