Brussels, 20/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission hopes to create a strategic partnership between the EU and the Horn of Africa in the mutual interest of both parties - a partnership that would bring peace, security and development to this region of Africa which is also one of the poorest in the world as well as a potentially explosive one given the number of conflicts and the ramifications that these conflicts have beyond the Black Continent.
Formally adopted by the College of Commissioners on 20 October, the strategy for a regional political partnership between the EU and the Horn of Africa (EUROPE 9289) defines an overall approach for conflict prevention in the region in order to tackle the root causes of instability. It also provides a political framework for concrete regional initiatives by the African Union and IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) with a view to finding lasting solutions, and structured dialogue between the EU and the seven countries of the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya).
The strategy follows three lines for intervention by: - addressing the problems of the countries that the regional ramifications, tackling the regional problems that are sources of conflict and instability, and promoting regional integration. A detailed work programme will be developed in close cooperation with the countries of the region, IGAD and the African Union.
European Development Commissioner Louis Michel said when presenting the initiative to the press that it was important to begin work now at a time when they are preparing the country-by-country strategy documents and the regional strategy documents in the context of programming for the tenth European Development Fund. The €3 billion made available to the ACP (African/Caribbean/Pacific) countries in support of governance could be better used, when it comes to the share for the countries of the Horn of Africa, for programmes according to the priorities of the countries and the strategic partnership proposed.
There are plenty of avenues to be explored for action. Louis Michel has suggested a few including: - strengthening the Nile Basin initiative to ensure balanced management of the river water between Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia, duly taking into account the upstream impact on Egypt; - strengthening the capacities of the East Africa intervention brigade; - beginning structured dialogue with IGAD and the Arab League on governance, security, Islam and pastoral nomads; - supporting the regional centre for light weapons, the early warning programme and intervention in the event of conflict and the programme for combating IGAD terrorism; - reforming border controls through joint training actions, improving the management of migratory flows and of refugees, and combating the trafficking of human beings, strengthening IGAD capacity so that it can develop and support regional projects; - and extending and reinforcing the early warning and response mechanism for IGAD conflicts, especially to avoid conflicts between pastoral migrants in the different countries.
Louis Michel believes this regional geopolitical strategy is a first example of the EU's political approach in its strategy for Africa, implemented in a region where it is all interaction but where the different problems are often dealt with in a specific manner. This is true for the continuing confrontation linked to the border line traced between Eritrea and Ethiopia, for the Somalia crisis, and also for the conflicts in Sudan/Darfur and in the north of Uganda. Only regional solutions can be sustainable.
In these countries, 22% of the population live below the average poverty line for the African continent which - except for Djibouti and Kenya - are all suffering from conflict or territorial disputes, as well as the lack of natural resources and desertification, the Commissioner stressed. And yet, beyond these conflicts that are “intrinsically linked and intertwined”, as well as weak governance, generalised poverty, galloping population increase and food supply insecurity - factors that underpin all these countries - there are cross-border occurrences that exacerbate the tension potential - conflicts over rare natural resources and especially water, arms proliferation, illegal migration, banditry, and the rise in Islamic fundamentalism. “We are dealing with a regional insecurity system”, Louis Michel said. To this must be added worrying geopolitical developments in the Horn of Africa where the different conflicts tend to become the theatre for polarisation between the pro-Western, Christian, secular line (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda) and an Arab-Islamic line (Sudan, Islamists in Somalia with the support of Eritrea and Djibouti).
The Commissioner says these elements suffice to convince him of the need to take action to prevent the extension of such polarisation into other countries in the region (Kenya, Chad, Tanzania, Uganda, the Central African Republic and even the Democratic Republic of Congo). This is in the interest of security in Africa and also the strategic security challenges facing the EU. We believe the European Union has value added to make a difference, said Louis Michel, adding that it was the European Commission's duty to intervene in the region politically. The EU's economic interests are also at stake and the European Commission aims to protect them in the region bordering the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a strategic axis for the transport of energy supplies. The United States, China, India and the Muslim world are already active in the area, which deserves to become a priority for the EU, added Michel. (an)