Brussels, 08/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Tuesday 7 June, the European Parliament called for Africa to take greater ownership of peacekeeping operations on its territory in the future. This was the central message of a resolution adopted by initiative of Geoffrey van Orden (ECR, UK), the spokesperson for security and defence issues of his political group.
The resolution, which was adopted by 491 votes (110 against, 73 abstentions), acknowledges the efforts made by the United Nations, the African Union, the United States, NATO, many European countries and the European Union itself, but also highlights the need to focus efforts on developing African capacity rather than remedying capacity shortfalls with short-term alternative measures. This will ensure that the African countries can take greater responsibility for peacekeeping on their own continent.
Given the scale of the challenges to be met and the need to avoid duplications in the various missions approved by the United Nations and bringing together a number of players and regional organisations in the same theatre of operations, the MEPs urged the EU to take steps effectively to divide up its responsibilities and to focus on areas in which it can add the most value.
Stressing the vital need for Africa to be able to react quickly to crises, the Parliament stressed the essential role of the African reserve forces. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)