The Secretary General of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, Ibrahim Sani Abani, and Patrice Kouamé Kouassi, Deputy in the National Assembly of Côte d'Ivoire and member of the Committee on Security and Defence, called on the EU on Wednesday 9 January to do more to help African countries restore peace and security. According to Mr. Abani, in the Sahel-Grand Sahara area, eight organizations constitute the “terrorist nebula”.
"Complex crises and conflicts should not be dealt with only by African countries and the United Nations Security Council. They call for international mobilization, as much as by States as by international organisations and local actors alike”, the Secretary General explained at a conference on Africa organized by the CER group at the European Parliament.
“We must organise ourselves to create the conditions for peace to be restored. To this end, it is necessary to continue exchanges at state levels and also with the EU, the European Commission, the European Parliament and other partners to see how to contribute, to make synergy work so that international peace and security can be ensured”, he argued. According to Mr. Abani, it is essential to work together, to see the answers that African States can provide. “Alone, African countries cannot answer this question, it is a question that concerns all international organisations”, he insisted.
However, for Mr Abani and Mr Kouamé Kouassi it is important to work upstream. “Our message is to strongly call for increased EU support for peace-building, support for economic and social development [...] to improve the human development index, ensure good governance and better address climate change”, he said. The Secretary-General identified three main threats to peace and stability in Sahelo-Saharan Africa: terrorism, but also illicit trafficking, notably that of drugs, and climate change.
"The operational support that the EU gives to African countries [...] is a downstream response. For me, it’s an upstream response we would need to avoid arriving at the extremes of terrorism”, explained Mr. Kouamé Kouassi. He questionned the support that the EU could provide in several areas. The Ivorian deputy cited in particular the failure to respect the results of the elections, the failure to apply international and national anti-terrorist rules due to corruption and the failure to respect human rights and social injustice, which, in his view, are factors of radicalisation that must be combated.
“The only appropriate response must come from Africans; it cannot be outsourced, but EU support is needed against terrorism”, he summarised. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)