WANTON DESTRUCTION

We fully support the position taken by our president, Hakainde Hichilema, on the ongoing war in Ukraine.

This is a war that has sent thousands of soldiers to their early graves, while rendering destitute more than 8 million civilians mostly women and children and as billions of dollars worth of damage has been wrought.

This war was unnecessary and uncalled. The circumstances giving rise to the conflict could have been resolved without a single shot being fired. Sadly the situation has spiraled to a new height of wanton destruction cheered on by non-Ukranians who do not feel the pain, loss and suffering of the people.

This proxy war has resulted in the death of many innocent people including our own Zambian student and other Africans who volunteered to fight with the prospect of being freed from prison.

The irony that defeats reason is that on the Russian side most aggressive fighters are the mercenaries, the Wagner group, a Russian paramilitary organization, variously described as a private military company

While it may take many years to restore the country to normalcy, lives have been lost forever, leaving behind widows, widowers and most certainly orphans.

While this conflict may be justified on anachronistic determination, it has no place in this day and age when imperial designs have no place and therefore cannot constitute justification for a one sided war in which Russia chooses to bombard private homes and apartments and other infrastructure such as energy installations to deprive citizens of heat, light and enterprise with the hope of demoralizing and therefore defeating a sovereign nation.

Nothing can be gained from war as it will ultimately end on a negotiating table where terms will be agreed after damage has been suffered.

The principled decision for Zambia to vote against the war does not in any way denigrate or indeed ignore the complex geopolitical and historical factors involved. These may indeed be real but they do not justify the human toll that has been exacted, more so that the conflict appears to be a super power dual aimed at establishing territorial preponderance.

It is inhuman to subject innocent civilians to the barrage of shelling regardless of the motivation and it is indeed astounding that the United Nations which should see to global peace has been reduced to impotent bystander while the Charter of territorial inviolability has been breached with impunity.

This singular war has brought the relevance of the United Nations into question. The Security Council’s role is to foster negotiations, impose sanctions, and authorize the use of force when needed, including the deployment of peacekeeping missions but sadly the chairman of the Council is now the aggressor.

We expect that in this new position as Chairman of the Council, Russia would take the high and courageous road of seeking dialogue and peaceful resolution to the conflict in order to restore global security while saving lives and property.