EU Presidency Statement - Peace and sustainable development in Africa

Mr. President,

I am pleased to take the floor on behalf of the European Union. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe associated with the EU (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungria, Latva, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia et Slovénia), the associated countries (Cyprus and Malta), and the EFTA country which is member of the European Economic Area (Liechtenstein) align themselves with this declaration.

The European Union welcomes the opportunity to examine today the report of the Working Group instructed to examine the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa. The Working Group, which met on three occasions, each lasting a week, in March, May and July 2000, made a number of recommendations in various areas, all of which are fundamental for the future of the African continent: poverty eradication, HIV/AIDS, the environment, debt, development financing, conflict prevention and post conflict management, refugees and better coordination of international aid.

Mr. President,

Before going into any detail concerning the significant lessons we may draw from the course of the Working Group's proceedings and from the detailed recommendations made in its report, I should like to reiterate the importance attached by the European Union to establishing an integrated approach of the United Nations towards Africa. This integrated approach must effectively take into account the political, social and economic dimensions of conflict prevention and resolution. This is very clearly one of the essential recommendations of the Secretary General's report published in April 1998. This is an issue which is as topical today as it ever was, and which once again has been highlighted by the report of the panel of experts led by Mr. Brahimi: development without peace is no more possible than peace without development. The European Union thus intends to continue urging unremittingly that the specific needs of Africa regarding peace and development should be taken into greater account in all the international fora, and particularly those of the United Nations.

Mr. President,

The European Union is encouraged by the positive and constructive atmosphere which has constantly presided over the Working Group's meetings. Although the stumbling block of duplication with debate in other fora was not always avoided, the hearing given by the Working Group to representatives of the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system, as well as to the Secretary General's representatives on the ground, has undeniably contributed to enriching collective thinking. The quality of the Working Group's endeavor is also reflected in the tenor of a balanced and reasonably determined report. Much is very obviously owed to the personal involvement of President Theo Ben Gurirab, but also to the energetic and determined action of the two Vice Chairmen, Ambassadors Kishore Mahbubani of Singapore and Inocencio Arias of Spain. The European Union would like to salute the decisive contribution of these various personalities to the success of an exercise which was not a foregone conclusion. I must also add, Mr. President, on the matter of the Working Group's working methods, that the European Union was particularly impressed by the intelligent and intensive use of the tool which is the Internet. The creation of a site devoted to the Working Group's proceedings enabled delegations to keep themselves constantly abreast of the progress of discussions, of the contributions made on all sides, and also to make the outside world better acquainted with the Working Group's approaches.

For the European Union, it is thus absolutely essential that the General Assembly should be able to provide a concrete and operational follow up to the suggestions made by the Working Group and that the investment made, which is considerable, is not overlooked or under utilised.

Mr. President,

On the content itself of the Working Group's report, the European Union still regrets, as it already said last July, that sufficiently strong emphasis has not yet been placed on the decisive issue of conflict prevention. The grave crises which have occurred in Africa since the initial publication of the Secretary General's report in April 1998, the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ethiopian Eritrea conflict, the increased risk of the Sierra Leonean conflict overflowing to the neighboring countries, indeed show that we can never invest sufficiently in prevention. The UN must also provide more and better support for the regional efforts towards peace and security, including, where that proves necessary, by making financial or human resources available. The EU, for its part, has played an active role in the mediation exercise conducted by the OAU in the Ethiopian Eritrea conflict, and intends to continue with that effort. The European Union notes with great interest the latest recommendations of the Security Council mission to Sierra Leone for increasing the assistance to be provided to the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) regarding regional security.

Still on the chapter of the analysis of the causes of conflicts and forestalling them better, the European Union fully supports the initiatives taken by the Security Council for gaining a better understanding of the economic origins and commercial aspects of certain African crises and denouncing the links between trafficking in raw materials and the arms traffic. The establishment of the follow up mechanism for applying sanctions against Unita, the setting up of a panel to investigate the illegal exploitation of the resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the setting up of a panel to inquire into illegal trafficking in diamonds and arms in Sierra Leone are all examples illustrating this new approach. The European Union fully supports the idea of better coordination of all these initiatives within an expert structure which might be a unified one: by definition, trafficking knows no frontiers and the criminal interests are often the same from one crisis to another.

The EU welcomes the fact that the Economic and Social Council has chosen Africa as a theme for high level debate at its next substantive session in July 2001. It is imperative that economic and social thinking on Africa should be coordinated and consistent within the United Nations system. The EU is in this respect pleased with the content of the report prepared by the United Nations Secretary General for the Millennium Summit and the Millennium Declaration. The EU remains firmly committed to implementing the recommendations of that Declaration.

Moving on now to the comments made by the Working Group on the issue of debt, I should like to reiterate here that the European Union considers the reinforced HIPC initiative to be an essential element in combating poverty and attaining the objectives of sustainable development. To date, the EU has provided 68% of the contributions paid to the Trust Fund for financing the HIPC initiative. It calls on the eligible countries to implement their international political commitments and to take the political and economic measures needed to engage in this process and to ensure that implementation of this initiative directs the resources raised towards the social sectors, such as education and health, and promotes the rule of law, good governance, involvement of civil society and human development.

Mr. President,

I should not like to end this statement without recalling the determined commitment of the European Union to pursuing a constant dialogue with the African countries on all these issues. The success of the Europe/Africa Summit under the aegis of the European Union and the OAU in Cairo in April 2000 requires us to do so. We shall therefore resolutely continue on this course.

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• EU Presidency Statement - HR Solana's Speech on Africa at the Security Council (29/1/2002)
• EU Presidency Statement - Peace and sustainable development in Africa (31/5/2001)