Somalia votes in favor of a UN resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Somalia’s ambassador to the UN Abukar Dahir Osman Baale [File Photo]

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Russia's invasion of Ukraine was on Wednesday condemned at the United Nations General Assembly with several countries coming together to condemn the incident which has already left thousands of people dead.

For a week, Russia has been bombarding several parts of Ukraine including the capital Kyiv, but the world has seemingly stood against Vladimir Putin, the strongman who has been at the helm for decades, at one time serving as Prime Minister.

During the key voting, Eritrea under President Isaias Afwerki voted against the UN resolution slamming Russia's invasion, becoming the only African country to do so. The exercise so 140 countries stand for Ukraine while condemning Russia, 5 voting against and 35 countries abstaining.

Eritrea has been previously accused of mass violation of human rights, including the most recent which saw her troops cross over to the Tigray region in support of Ethiopia National Defense Forces [ENDF]. Both ENDF and Eritrea soldiers are accused of genocide in Tigray.

But Somalia, a country that perhaps feels the pain of war, voted in favor of a UN resolution while calling for the protection of African students in Kyiv and other cities. This came after the EU ambassador to Somalia Tiina Intelmann said early that they seek Somalia to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Besides Eritrea, those who voted against Russia include North Korea, Syria, Belarus, and Russia. The Republic of South Africa which has been previously accused of promoting xenophobia abstained from the crucial vote.

On Wednesday, Russia said 498 of its troops have been killed in Ukraine, in the first death toll since the invasion. Ukraine puts the number of Russian soldiers killed in their thousands. Meanwhile, Ukraine also reported that 2,000 Ukrainian civilians were killed in the Russian invasion.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow remained committed to the demilitarisation of Ukraine and there should be a list of specified weapons that could never be deployed on Ukrainian territory.

"Specific types of strike weapons must be identified which will never be deployed in Ukraine and will not be created," Lavrov said in an interview with Al Jazeera, the text of which was published on his ministry's website.

Lavrov said Russia recognized President Volodymyr Zelensky as Ukraine's leader and welcomed as a "positive step" the fact that Zelenskiy wanted to receive security guarantees.

"Our negotiators are ready for the second round of discussing these guarantees with Ukrainian representatives," he said.

Zelensky said in an interview on Tuesday that Russia needed to halt its bombing of Ukraine before further talks could take place. He called for security guarantees, but from NATO and not from Russia.

GAROWE ONLINE