The European Union’s Political and Security Committee (PSC) and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) “underscored their strong belief” in effective multilateral cooperation and in the need to reform international institutions in order to collectively address shared global challenges, in a joint statement published on Tuesday 14 October.
Meeting last Thursday in Brussels for their sixteenth joint annual meeting, the two parties also stressed the importance of strengthening their coordination and implementing predictable, sustainable and adequate funding mechanisms for AU-led peace support operations in the face of terrorist threats, external interference and regional instability in Africa.
In particular, the EU and the AU have called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan and Somalia, condemning attacks on civilians and massive human rights violations. The partners reaffirmed their support for the political and security transition in Somalia and for efforts to contain the terrorist group ‘Al-Shabaab’ (see EUROPE 13604/41), as well as for the stabilisation of the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, calling for the withdrawal of uninvited foreign forces and the participation of armed groups in disarmament programmes.
The EU reiterated its commitment through its civilian and military missions under its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and its support via the ‘European Peace Facility’.
To see the full joint statement: https://aeur.eu/f/izi (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)