At the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union meeting today, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn called for members to sustain their support to African partners in the battle against ongoing crises.
Minister Asselborn said Africa is a continent with enormous potential but faces a number of challenges and conflicts.
"We must continue to provide dedicated support to our African partners to deal with security crises that threaten peace and prosperity, including terrorist threats, such as in the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa, threats such as transnational organised crime,” he said, adding that "support must be flexible and adapted to reality on the ground, as in the Sahel where the EU must continue to support G5 cooperation, (EUCAP Niger and EUCAP Mali) and military missions (EUTM Mali)"
The Council discussed relations between the EU and Africa on the basis of a joint communication between the High Representative and the Commission on a new impetus for the EU-Africa partnership. This discussion contributed to the preparation of the EU-Africa summit in November.
Jean Asselborn also insisted that "the status quo - be it in South Sudan, Burundi, the DRC, or elsewhere - where political and economic elites can choose to cling to power or capture the state’s resources at the expense of peace and shared prosperity, the EU must resolutely place itself on the side of the African reformers and democrats who are waiting for our support to make a lasting and positive change within their societies. Peace, prosperity and partnership can only be achieved if the rule of law and human rights are guaranteed".
The Minister welcomed the fact that "by dedicating our next summit with Africa to the theme of Youth, we will focus our attention on the issues that lie at the heart of our partnership”, adding that "given the current population growth rates, almost one in four inhabitants on earth will be African by 2050, and the working-age population could reach one billion people during the same period. It is clear that the prosperity of the African populations will only be achieved through the considerable increase in the number of quality jobs for African youth and the prospects for sustainable socio-economic development".
