The first European missions in Africa: what results?

(BRUSSELS2) “ The geopolitics of the first missions of the European Union in Africa ". This book should not be missed for anyone interested in the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) and its missions in Africa. Seeking to answer a series of questions on European power (economic and political), its place and its role in a continent that arouses covetousness, Andrès István Türke underlines how much “ the interest of the European Union is to guarantee its own security ».

The author, doctor of Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle and associate researcher of several research institutes in France, Hungary and Switzerland, begins by presenting and examining " the continent's greatest issues and challenges vis-à-vis Europe, African actions and responses and European attempts ", mainly the economic efforts " within the framework of the development of the Yaoundé, Lomé and Cotonou conventions ».

In the first chapter, he identifies the " political and military cooperation whose objective is the security of the continent ". The EU needs to appear a more reliable (but also strong) partner in the eyes of Africans. We are meant to cooperate. "But since 2008, the Union" prefer soft-solutions "to engage" deeply by sending troops and became the financial basis for joint African operations. In the following chapters, Türke presents the context and then analyzes the reasons for and the conduct of European missions in the Republic of Congo (where Operation Artemis is seen as the EU's first military operation), in the Darfur region (Sudan, Chad and Central African Republic between 2004-2007), in Guinea-Bissau (reform of the security sector decided in 2007) and finally in Libya in 2011. A last chapter is dedicated to the study of the complex regional elements which influence the conflict in Somalia and European engagement in the country and region. This analysis is signed by András Hettyey and written in English.

The Libyan case and the failure of EUFOR Libya lead the author to mixed conclusions. On the one hand, he underlines the ineffectiveness of the CSDP " that didn't work once again when it comes to a real stake "because they are ultimately the" bilateral solutions and coalitions of the willing that are favored ". On the other hand, his conclusions on the military aspect of Operation Harmattan (especially for logistics) are " rather positive ».

His conclusion is worth quoting because it sums up the current position well: We can say that the Union is on the right track to transform its economic power into a political power, but this process is undoubtedly a fairly long process, and in view of the progress of emerging countries, it should be done much faster. »

• « The geopolitics of the first missions of the European Union in Africa », Andras Istvan Türke, L'Harmattan, 2013, Contemporary issues, 252 pages, €25,65. This is the second volume in a series on CSDP. The first presented the historical frameworks, the institutional and legal evolution, and the debates: “ The European security and defense policy - What results? What new directions? ". The third volume will focus on EU activity in the Balkans.