Russia concerned with ongoing conflicts and terrorist activities in Africa - Lavrov

MOSCOW, May 21 /TASS/. Russia is concerned with ongoing conflicts and the activities of terrorist and extremist groups in Africa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a message of greetings devoted to Africa’s Day which his deputy Mikhail Bogdanov read out at a reception on Thursday. The text of the message has been published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website. "Peace and guaranteed security in the region is the backlog for successful solution of socio-economic tasks. In this context, the ongoing conflicts in South Sudan, Mali, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as the activities of radical terrorist and extremist groups are arousing concern," Lavrov said in his message. "It is in our common interests to seek the earliest settlement to crisis situations and prevent the terrorist threat from sprawling further. Russia will continue rendering all round support to Africans’ efforts in this direction - within the United Nations framework, at multilateral floors and in the bilateral format," Lavrov stressed. Read more