According to Al Jazeera, Zelenskyy’s Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall wrote in a tweet on Monday night (April 11) that he was on a call with the president that same day. Sall, who chairs the 55-member continental body, said the pair discussed the global economic effect of the war in Ukraine and “the need to favor dialogue for a negotiated outcome to the conflict.”

“I thank President @ZelenskyyUa for his call today,” the tweet reads, translated into English. “We discussed the impact of the war in Ukraine, on the world economy and the need to favor dialogue for a negotiated outcome to the conflict. I also noted his request to make a communication to the AU.” Currently, most African countries have been neutral or muted in their criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine due to Moscow’s long standing relations with the continent since the Cold War. Earlier in April, the United Nations General Assembly suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. Nine of the countries that voted against the resolution were African, while another 23 abstained from voting.