South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa called on Thursday for “multilateralism” and international law in solving world crises as G20 foreign ministers met amid rising tensions over various conflicts and trade disputes.
“It is critical that the principles of the UN Charter, multilateralism and international law should remain at the centre of all our endeavours. It should be the glue that keeps us together,” Ramaphosa said in an address to open the meeting.
The G20, a grouping of 19 countries as well as the European Union and the African Union, is deeply divided on key issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to climate change.
The strife was threatening “an already fragile global coexistence,” Ramaphosa said.
“Yet there is a lack of consensus among major powers, including in the G20, on how to respond to these issues of global significance.”
World leaders have been split on how to respond to the dramatic policy shifts from Washington since the return of US President Donald Trump.
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, skipped this week’s meeting in South Africa, which holds the G20 presidency this year, amid disputes with the host nation over several policy issues.
Pretoria has in particular come under fire from Washington for leading a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of “genocidal” acts in its Gaza offensive, which Israel has denied.
“The conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, conflict that’s raging in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the Sudan, in the Sahel and in Gaza continue to exact heavy human toll and heighten global insecurity,” Ramaphosa said.
“As the G20 we must continue to advocate for diplomatic solutions to conflicts,” he said.
“I think it is important that we should remember that cooperation is our greatest strength,” Ramaphosa added. “Let us seek to find common ground through constructive engagement.”