The EU has a renewed Great Lakes Strategy to address the root causes of instability and to reaffirm the EU’s commitment to this strategic African region as a potential driver of development in Africa and ‘shared opportunities’ for the countries of the region and for the EU.
This renewed long-term strategy was adopted without debate at the EU ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council on Monday 20 February (see EUROPE 13124/11). It was announced by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on the day he called on Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to return to the Luanda and Nairobi regional peace processes and dialogue as tensions in eastern DRC are escalating (see EUROPE 13121/22).
“The region shares strong and long-standing human, political and economic ties with the European Union. The EU, together with its Member States, is fully committed to deepening its strategic relationship and equal partnership with the Great Lakes region to support democracy, human rights, peace and security, Rule of law, gender equality, poverty eradication and sustainable development”, the conclusions state.
The strategy covers security, humanitarian aid, development aid, trade, support for multilateralism, against the backdrop of the UN’s 2030 agenda and its sustainable development goals.
According to the text, “the EU’s overarching objective and priority is to help end armed conflict and promote peace, democracy and sustainable development in the Great Lakes region”.
Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib welcomed the adoption of this strategy, recalling on her arrival at the Council meeting on Monday that her country has been pleading “for several months for greater involvement, a greater presence of the Union in the Great Lakes region to help the authorities restore lasting peace and tackle the root causes of insecurity. We hope that this strategy will soon lead to concrete actions on the ground”, she told the press. It was at the request of this Member State that a debate took place in the EU Council last November (see EUROPE 13062/9).
See the EU Council conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/5eh (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)