MOSCOW: Egypt’s president on Friday called on Russia and Ukraine to find “urgent solutions” to allow the resumption of Ukraine grain exports to Africa, after Moscow’s withdrawal led to the collapse of a Black Sea pact.
The Ukraine grain deal was agreed last year and allowed around 33 million tons of grain to leave Ukrainian ports, helping to stabilize global food prices and avert shortages.
“I underline the importance of finding urgent solutions to furnish food and fertilizer at prices that will help Africa to surmount this crisis,” Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said at a Russia-Africa summit in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg.
“I hope to come to a consensual solution on a grain export agreement, taking into account the requests and interests of all the parties, in order put an end to the rise in price,” he said.
Russia last week refused to extend a deal brokered by UN and Turkiye, under which Ukrainian grain exports passed through the Black Sea to reach global markets, including Africa, easing pressure on food prices.
Moscow withdrew from the agreement after protesting for months that the parts of the deal that allowed for the export of Russian fertilizer were not honored.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday opened a two-day summit in Saint Petersburg with African leaders, offering free grain to six countries on the continent.
Russia has sought in recent years to increase its influence in Africa and its Wagner mercenary group has been an active player in several African countries in recent years.
Egypt urges renewal of Black Sea grain export deal
https://arab.news/c534d
Egypt urges renewal of Black Sea grain export deal
- “I underline the importance of finding urgent solutions to furnish food and fertilizer at prices that will help Africa to surmount this crisis,” Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said
- Russia last week refused to extend a deal brokered by UN and Turkiye
Israeli settlers burn tents, vehicles in West Bank village
- Videos show masked men rampaging into the Palestinian village of Susiya near Hebron and burning vehicles and property
- Similar attacks have become common as settlers seek to control large swathes of land in the West Bank
SUSIYA, West Bank: Israeli settlers set fire to vehicles and tents in the Palestinian village of Susiya on Tuesday night, residents said, in the latest incident of settler violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Videos verified by Reuters showed a masked group of men, who residents said were Israeli settlers, approaching the village near the city of Hebron, and later burning vehicles and Palestinian property.
“They attack us almost every day, repeatedly, because we live near the main road...Last night they burned everywhere,” Halima Abu Eid, a Susiya resident told Reuters on Wednesday.
The Israeli military said they had dispatched soldiers to deal with reports of “deliberate burnings of Palestinian property” and had opened an investigation into the incident.
Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased sharply since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023, with over 800 Palestinians displaced due to settler attacks in 2026 according to United Nations data.
Attacks where masked settlers arrive at night to destroy Palestinian property or attack residents have become common, as Israeli settlers seek to control large swathes of land in the West Bank.
An Israeli official previously blamed settler violence on a “fringe minority,” although Reuters reporting has shown well-organized plans to take Palestinian land in public settler social media channels.
The United Nations has documented at least 86 instances of settler violence from February 3 to 16, leading to the displacement of 146 Palestinians and the injury of 64.
Israeli indictments of settler violence are rare. At the end of 2025, Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din said of the hundreds of cases of settler violence it had documented since October 7, 2023, only 2 percent resulted in indictments. Israel’s far-right governing coalition has enabled the rapid spread of settlements, with some ministers openly stating they want to “bury” a Palestinian state.
Most world powers deem Israel’s settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal, and numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
Israel disputes the view that its settlements are unlawful and it cites biblical and historical ties to the land.
