against apartheid. former president jacob zuma seen here with putin in 2013 even recently said he believed the russian president was a man of peace who would take steps to make peace a reality. . there are many people in many parts of the world who would like to see other regions gaining strength and would like to see the end of western domination of the world order, putting it simply. and now of course no right-thinking person in africa or anywhere in the world looks at what is going on in ukraine now and thinks that is a good thing. reporter: in recent years, russia has established itself as one of africa s most valuable trading partners, becoming one of africa s major suppliers of military harbor with key lines of ethiopia and libya. given concerns, african leaders are likely to tread carefully in response to the war in ukraine. stephanie bucari, cnn, lags go.