Evora, 01/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - At their meeting in Evora on Saturday 29 September, the 27 European Union defence ministers discussed the importance and priority of security in Africa, a theme close to the heart of the Portuguese minister, Nuno Severiano Teixeira, who made it clear that the discussion had been on security sector reform, the creation of African crisis management capabilities and the link between security and development. During the discussion, at which Ghana's defence minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, represented the African Union, André Flahaut expanded on Belgium's experience in contributing to the strengthening of African capacities. The Belgian minister pointed out how his country had formed a Benin unit with a view to taking part in MONUC, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pierre Michel Joana, who heads the EUSEC (EU-led security sector reform mission) in the DRC, took stock of work carried out by the mission (DDR support, inventory support, human resources and payment channels), which now has a more operational personnel of 46. He again stressed that these efforts are part of a long term commitment, given the magnitude of the task in hand. He also said he hoped coordination would be improved between the various EU actors and the others players (UN, states on a bilateral basis, etc).
EU ministers also discussed security in the Mediterranean with their counterparts from Algeria, Deputy Defence Minister Abdelmalek Guenaizia; as well as the defence ministers from Libya, Ahmed Azwai, Mauritania, Ould Mohamed Lemine, Morocco, Abderrahmane Sbai and Tunisia, Kamel Morjane. “All the participants agreed to say that security in the Mediterranean must be a priority for the EU”, summarised Nuno Severiano Teixeira after the meeting. (ol)