Somalia: Solana reminds Member States of their duties
(B2) The 27 Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the European Union have just received a missive setting out a sort of roadmap for Somalia. The great momentum started during the donor conference at the end of April is indeed slipping. And Javier Solana, the EU's chief diplomat, took up his pen to specify in writing the avenues that need to be developed for the Horn of Africa. A "polite" way of reminding the Member States of their duties and... their promises.
It's urgent, if only for economic and development reasons. The entire region is affected: traffic in the Suez Canal would have fallen by almost 25% (part is attributable to the economic crisis, the other... to pirates, many boats now going around via South Africa, or avoiding the area, for example cruise ships which are starting to withdraw the Seychelles from their program...).
The letter remains confidential, but certain extracts have reached me (I have added in parentheses certain elements which do not appear in the letter but are implied). Here are the main elements.
Message center axis : European action - at sea - must be supplemented - on land - with a range of measures intended to stabilize Somalia and if not eradicate at least strongly limit the hotbed of piracy. Everyone recognizes that to solve piracy, it is necessary to act on land, to stabilize Somalia, to promote development... But to take action is another story.
At sea, the Atalanta operation must be reinforced (complete the staff in particular, a quarter of the staff at the Atalanta headquarters is not yet in place!, read here), extend it - which requires generating offers for 2010 as of today (in order to avoid any "gaps" between operations) - and whose mandate must be extended.
On land, Javier Solana therefore proposes six avenues for the long term:
- appointment of a special envoy for Somalia (who will coordinate all EU action in this country);
- reinforcement of AMISOM, the peacekeeping force of the African Union
- support for Somali security reform - police, coast guards, security forces... - as proposed by France - supported by Germany and the Netherlands - at the last Council of
Ministers of Foreign Affairs (read here);
- maritime development;
- long-term strategy for Somalia;
- international legal framework on piracy (NB: the contact group of legal experts from several countries is meeting in New York today).
Brussels2 - Nicolas Gros-Verheyde
Photo credit: Council of the European Union - at the informal Council of Ministers in March 2009
