Tag Archives: African union

Cooperation with the African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism

Outline of the Community (European Union) legislation about Cooperation with the African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism

Topics

These categories group together and put in context the legislative and non-legislative initiatives which deal with the same topic.

Development > African Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP)

Cooperation with the African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism

Document or Iniciative

Council Joint Action 2007/501/CFSP of 16 July 2007 on cooperation with the African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism in the framework of the implementation of the European Union counter-terrorism strategy.

Summary

This Joint Action offers the support of the European Union (EU) to the Member States of the African Union (AU). Its objective is to improve the organisation of the capacities of the Member States of the AU in the fight against terrorism and to strengthen cooperation, in particular through the exchange of information.

The EU undertakes to provide financial support to the African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT) with a view to improving the efficiency of the counter-terrorism arrangements of the African countries.

African Centre for Study and Research on Terrorism

Since its creation in 2004, the ACSRT has been responsible for evaluating the terrorist threat in Africa and for promoting intra-African cooperation against terrorism. It deals more specifically with carrying out training measures, conducting studies, setting up databases for gathering, exchanging and analysing information, as well as for terrorism-related surveillance and alerts.

Project

The project consists in carrying out audit missions on national counter-terrorism arrangements and providing advice on reorganisation in the AU Member States. To achieve this, an action plan, drawn up by the EU, will be presented at the next seminar in Addis Ababa.

This seminar will bring together two representatives from the 53 countries of the AU, Morocco, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the ACSRT and each EU Member State, as well as the EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator.

At the close of the seminar, the African States will declare whether they wish to receive an audit mission or not. The audit teams will be made up of two specialists from the EU Member States and one member of the ACSRT and will be responsible for drawing up reports containing recommendations. If they are accepted by the audited countries, the latter will implement them, with monitoring by the ACSRT.

In parallel, the evaluations recording the possible improvements are forwarded to the ACSRT, which in turn sends them to the Council for communication to the Member States. On the basis of these evaluations, the ACSRT, with the agreement of the EU, can make recommendations to the audited countries.

Implementation

The Presidency, assisted by the Secretary-General of the Council/High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), is responsible for the implementation of this Joint Action.

The ACSRT is responsible for:

the technical implementation of the project;
the organisation of the Addis Ababa seminar;
contact with the States which have accepted the action plan;
proper management of the audit missions in operational and financial terms;
coordination of the project;
drawing up regular project evaluation reports.

The Council and the Commission ensure consistency between the implementation of this Joint Action and other external activities of the Community.

Terms and conditions

The project implementation budget amounts to EUR 665 000. The Commission is responsible for supervising the proper management of expenditure, supplying the information relating to the financial aspects, concluding a financing agreement with the ACSRT and informing the Council of any difficulties.

The Joint Action enters into force on the day of its adoption and expires 18 months after the conclusion of the financing agreement or on 16 July 2008, if no agreement has been concluded before that date.

Background

This Joint Action is part of the EU counter-terrorism strategy, the EU’s strategy for Africa, the Plan of Action on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism in Africa and the Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism, signed in Algiers.

References

Act	Entry into force	Deadline for transposition in the Member States	Official Journal
Joint Action 2007/501/CFSP	16.7.2007	–	OJ L 185 of 17.7.2007

Creation of a Peace Facility for Africa

Outline of the Community (European Union) legislation about Creation of a Peace Facility for Africa

Topics

These categories group together and put in context the legislative and non-legislative initiatives which deal with the same topic.

Development > African Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP)

Creation of a Peace Facility for Africa

Document or Iniciative

Decision 2003/3 of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers of 11 December 2003 on the use of resources from the long-term development envelope of the ninth EDF for the creation of a Peace Facility for Africa [pdf ].

Summary

The decision to create a Peace Facility for Africa follows a brief conferred by the Council at the session of 21 July 2003, in response to a request made by the African Union Summit (AU), which convened at Maputo on 4 – 12 July 2003.

The Decision allocated an initial amount of EUR 250 million to the Peace Facility for Africa for a period of three years from its date of entry into force.

The EUR 250 million came from the European Development Fund (EDF) under the Cotonou Agreement. Of this, EUR 126.4 million came from each African country’s contribution of 1.5 % from its allocated envelope. The remaining EUR 123.6 million were transferred from unallocated resources (reserves) of the 9th EDF.

The Council of 11 April 2006 decided to extend this initiative for the period 2008 – 10 by allocating EUR 300 million under the Intra-ACP Indicative Programme of the 10th European Development Fund.

This amount can be used to finance costs incurred by African countries deploying their peace-keeping forces in one or more other African countries (cost of carrying troops, soldiers’ living expenses, development of capabilities, etc.) but under no circumstances to cover military and arms expenditure.

The Peace Facility is based on the principle of African ownership. It supports African-led peacekeeping operations in Africa as well as capacity building for the emerging security structure of the African Union (AU). These operations are launched and implemented by the African Union’s organisations and/or by sub-regional organisations. The African Union is required to play a key role in the decision-making process relating to these operations.

The AU’s mission in Darfur/Sudan (AMIS) is the first to be supported by the Peace Facility for Africa following a decision in June 2004 for financing amounting to EUR 12 million.

References

Act	Entry into force	Deadline for transposition in the Member States	Official Journal
Decision 2003/3	11.12.2003	–	OJ L 345, 31.12.2003.

Related Acts

Decision No 2/2007 of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers of 25 May 2007 allowing additional bilateral contributions, to be managed by the Commission, in support of the objectives of the African Peace Facility

Council Regulation (EC) No 617/2007 of 14 May 2007 on the implementation of the 10th European Development Fund under the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement [Official Journal L 152 of 13.6.2007].

From a strategy for Africa to an EU-Africa strategic partnership

Outline of the Community (European Union) legislation about From a strategy for Africa to an EU-Africa strategic partnership

Topics

These categories group together and put in context the legislative and non-legislative initiatives which deal with the same topic.

Development > African Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP)

From a strategy for Africa to an EU-Africa strategic partnership

Document or Iniciative

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council of 27 June 2007 – From Cairo to Lisbon – The EU-Africa Strategic Partnership [COM(2007) 357 final – not published in the Official Journal].

Summary

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: FROM CAIRO TO LISBON

The first historic European Union (EU)-Africa summit, which was held in Cairo in 2000, launched a more structured political dialogue between the EU and Africa, in particular through regular meetings between senior officials and ministers. Following the creation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in 2001 and the African Union (AU) in 2002, a second summit should have been held in Lisbon in 2003 but was postponed due to controversy over the participation of certain countries.

In October 2005, at a joint meeting with the AU Commission, the European Commission adopted a Communication on the EU strategy for Africa, which was formally approved by the European Council in December of the same year. This strategy has reinforced the coherence of internal EU policy and the coordination of the Commission and the Member States’ policies towards Africa.

In December 2005, participants at the fifth EU-Africa ministerial meeting in Bamako agreed that the next step should be to develop a joint EU-Africa strategy. This position was subsequently confirmed by the European Council in December 2006 and by the AU summit in January 2007.

This joint strategy will serve to reinforce the political dialogue between the EU and Africa in order to:

go beyond the framework of simple development cooperation by opening up the dialogue to common political concerns and issues of common interest;
go beyond the African continent by moving on from a strategy focused exclusively on African concerns to address European and global issues and, as a result, take action in the relevant fora;
move beyond fragmented support for African aspirations to find regional and global solutions to the most important challenges;
guarantee increased participation of African and European citizens on the strategic partnership and thus contribute to the strengthening of civil society in both continents.

Following approval of the broad thrust of the joint strategy at the eighth EU-Africa ministerial troika meeting, the finalised strategy was adopted at the second EU-Africa summit (see “Related acts”).

PROPOSALS FOR THE JOINT EU-AFRICA STRATEGY

The joint strategy will pursue four political objectives, namely:

reinforcement of the partnership, transforming it into a genuine partnership of equals;
promotion of key issues with respect to development, such as peace and security, governance and human rights, trade and regional and continental integration in Africa;
joint response to global challenges;
promotion of a wide-based and wide-ranging people-centred partnership.

Specifically, the European Commission is proposing five joint initiatives, which will be included in an action plan annexed to the joint strategy. They are:

An energy partnership

This partnership will create a platform aiming at:

reinforcing the current dialogue on issues such as access to energy and energy security;
scaling up investment in energy infrastructure;
investing a higher proportion of oil and gas revenues in development activities;
mainstreaming climate change into development cooperation.

Moreover, the partnership should build on existing instruments, such as:

the overall framework of the UE-Africa infrastructure partnership and its trust fund;
the EU Energy Initiative (EUEI) and its ACP energy facility;
the national and regional indicative programmes under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF);
the thematic programme on the environment and sustainable management of natural resources, including energy.

Partnership on climate change

The partnership will strengthen cooperation between the EU and the AU in the following areas:

disaster risk reduction;
halting deforestation;
participation of developing countries in the global carbon market;
promotion and deployment of environmentally friendly technologies;
better monitoring of the environmental effects of climate change.

In January 2007 AU leaders, recognising the vulnerability of Africa to climate change, committed themselves, through the Addis Ababa Declaration, to integrating climate change into their development policies, programmes and activities at national and sub-regional level. This constitutes a sound basis for a partnership between the EU and the AU in this area.

Partnership on migration, mobility and employment

With respect to migration, cooperation between the EU and Africa will involve the establishment of a network of Africa-based migration observatories which will collect, analyse and disseminate information on migration flows within Africa and between Africa and the EU. Special attention will be given to the skilled labour issue.

As regards mobility, the partnership will aim at building African capacity in the area of migration information management. Moreover, it will encourage the movement of skilled labour through the creation of partnerships between European and African institutions such as universities and hospitals.

Finally, in order to offer Africans a genuine alternative to migration to Europe, the partnership will focus on creating more and better jobs in Africa, particularly in the formal economy.

Partnership on democratic governance

The AU and the EU must stimulate the dialogue on governance issues of mutual interest, such as human rights and natural resource management, through the creation of a governance forum that will bring together non-state actors, national parliaments, local authorities and regional organisations. Moreover, the EU will explore new strategies for increasing European Community and Member State funding to support the Pan-African governance architecture.

Political and institutional architecture

The Commission stresses the need to strengthen the dialogue between all EU and AU institutions, in particular between the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament, and also between the European Commission and the AU Commission. The EU and the AU could also hold joint ministerial meetings. These efforts will build on the existing biannual EU-Africa ministerial troika meetings and on summits of the Heads of State or Government, which could be held every two or three years alternately in Europe and Africa.

On this basis, the European and African partners are working together to draw up the joint strategy and the action plan. Apart from the aforementioned initiatives, the establishment of partnerships on peace and security, democratic governance and human rights, science, the information society and space is envisaged, with particular emphasis on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Related Acts

Lisbon declaration [Not published in the Official Journal] (pdf ).

This declaration, which was adopted at the close of the second EU-Africa summit on 8-9 December 2007 by the Heads of State or Government of 53 African countries and the 27 EU Member States, lays the foundations for the new strategic partnership of equals between Africa and the EU. This declaration, which contains the philosophy and commitments of the partnership, was adopted at the same time as the first joint EU-Africa strategy and its first three-year action plan (2008-2010) (pdf ).
The strategic priorities identified form the basis of eight partnerships whose progress will be assessed at the next summit in 2010. These partnerships cover the following areas: peace and security, democratic governance and human rights, trade and regional integration, achieving the MDGs, and energy, as well as science, the information society and space.