Africa harder hit by Iran war than Germany, says Chancellor Merz

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that Africa was harder hit by the war in Iran than Germany.

“The Iranian regime’s destruction of key infrastructure in the Gulf states is having a direct impact on the supply of oil and fuel in Africa. The production of agricultural inputs and fertilizers is also being affected. Because of its close trade ties with the Middle East, this is hitting Africa even harder than it is hitting us,” Merz told a joint press briefing in Berlin with Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, president of the African Union.

“Inflation is looming. Crop failures are looming. Food shortages are looming,” he added.

The chancellor said the question was “how Germany and Europe could support African countries in becoming more economically and energetically independent.”

Ahead of an international Sudan conference in Berlin this Wednesday, Merz emphasized that Germany supports all efforts for a ceasefire. In the “greatest humanitarian crisis of our time”—the civil war in Sudan—over 20 million people are suffering from hunger—nearly half the population, he said.

Germany is among the largest providers of humanitarian aid and supports all efforts by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt to achieve a ceasefire, said Merz.