Brussels, 20/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - Tuesday's External Relations Council devoted part of its work to examining the situation in a number of African countries in crisis, such as the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in southern Africa or the political crisis in the Côte d'Ivoire and the Central African Republic. Results of the work were:
- Humanitarian crisis in Southern Africa: The Council held an exchange of views on the crisis that mainly affects six countries: Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe - and expressed its deep concern for the gravity of the situation. Conclusions adopted stress that the short term response given by the Union (EUR 326 million in humanitarian and food aid allocated by the Commission and the Member States) must, in order to be sustainable, be completed by a medium and long term strategy establishing a link between emergency aid, rehabilitation and development. The Council invites the Commission and Member States to examine the possibility of increasing their contributions in response to calls from the United Nations. The Commission is invited to make a more detailed assessment of the needs to be submitted to the Council during its December session. The Council was also informed by the Portuguese minister of the results of the fifth EU/SADC (Southern African Development Community) ministerial meeting held in Maputo, Mozambique (see EUROPE of 7 November, p.12), and decided to return to the question during its next session with a view to the next EU/Africa Summit to be held in spring 32003.
- Côte d'Ivoire and Central African Republic: the Council was briefed by the French delegation on the crisis management measures, mainly through possible contributions to the establishment of regional forces (ECOWAS in the Côte d'Ivoire and CEMAC in Central African Republic).
