Brussels, 19/09/2005 (Agence Europe) The Assembly of Western European Union - The Interparliamentary European Security and Defence Assembly - is organising a conference on peacekeeping in sub-Saharan Africa on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 September in Brussels. The aim of the conference, which will be opened by WEU Assembly President Stef Goris (Belgium) and Herman De Croo, President of the House of Representatives, is to establish a dialogue between African and European parliamentarians and government and military representatives in order to highlight the successes and weaknesses of past and present peacekeeping operations, with particular focus on operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
Speakers include John Reid, British Defence Minister; André Flahaut, Belgian Defence Minister; General Jean-Paul Perruche of France, Director of the EU Military Staff; and General Bruno Neveux (Operation Artemis - DRC); as well as Olivier Kamitatu, Speaker of the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Armand De Decker, Belgian Development Cooperation Minister; and Arnauld Akodjenou (Benin), Director of the Emergency and Security Service, UN High Commission for Refugees. The European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, will deliver the conference closing speech.