The Russian Embassy in Accra has challenged some claims made by United States Vice President Kamala Harris during her three-day visit to Ghana.
The specific comments had to do with food security issues vis-à-vis the Russia-Ukraine war, with Harris purportedly accusing Russia of triggering a situation where grain exports have been restricted.
The Embassy tweeted a photo that described Harris’ comments as fake and stated what they claim are the facts relating to grain supply on the part of Russia.
Their tweet was captioned: “The recent visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Ghana hasn’t gone without another portion of anti-Russian fakes that do not stand a simple fact-checking.”
What Kamala reportedly said:
“In terms of the Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine. There have been a number of impacts globally and to the United States included. In particular, it relates to the prevalence of our ability to have access to certain foods, and grain in particular, globally has been an issue.”
The facts as stated by the Embassy
FACT: European officials acknowledged that Ukraine has already supplied 53 million tonnes of grain and other food products – its annual export amount (for comparison: in 2019-2020 season – 54.9 M tonnes, in 2020-2021 – 44.9 M tonnnes.
QUESTION: Why is then Africa facing food insecurity?
ANSWER: 1) Because of EU and US sanctions that block the RUSSIAN grain export.
2) Because 45% of the total volume of grain exported from Ukraine went to Europe and only 3% went to Africa.
The recent visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Ghana hasn't gone without another portion of anti-Russian fakes that do not stand a simple fact-checking. pic.twitter.com/jQuvK3GJJG
— Russian Embassy in Ghana (@RusEmbGhanaEng) March 29, 2023