On Wednesday in Brussels, Algerian State Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, National Community Abroad, and African Affairs, Ahmed Attaf, highlighted the urgent need to forge an effective partnership between the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU), grounded in the principle of “African solutions to Africa’s problems,” with the backing of partners dedicated to helping the continent tackle its current challenges.
In his address during a roundtable discussion titled “Peace, Security, and Governance,” part of the third European Union – African Union Ministerial Meeting, Attaf identified “three critical factors currently shaping the African landscape regarding peace and security.”
The State Minister remarked that “throughout its modern history, Africa has never experienced such a high number of hotbeds of tensions, crises and conflicts at the same time. From the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, from the Great Lakes to parts of North Africa, instability is on the rise, disrupting the lives of millions and threatening the future of the entire continent.” He went on to say, “Perhaps even more alarming, terrorism has emerged as the primary threat to peace and security in Africa. Today, Africa accounts for more than half of all terrorism-related deaths worldwide, with the Sahel region tragically turning into the global epicenter of terrorism.”
“At a time when these challenges are growing bigger, our collective diplomatic response has grown weaker. Mediation efforts and peace processes have not kept pace with the worsening situation, thus leaving a huge vacuum for forces of instability to spread and to expand even more,” he noted.
Given these circumstances, Attaf asserted, “Algeria firmly believes in the urgent need to reenergize our partnership,” emphasizing the “need for an action-oriented partnership anchored in the principle of African solutions to Africa’s problems, with the support of our friends and partners committed to helping Africa meet resolutely the challenges it faces and fulfil the aspirations that we share.”
The State Minister declared that this partnership will “reclaim the rightful place of diplomacy at the heart of our common engagement in dealing with the current hotbeds of instability in Africa.”
This partnership will “secondly empower better and in more sustainable manner AU Peace-support Operations confronting terrorism and many other evolving threats.” And it “will thirdly and lastly invest more in achieving stability through development, as this remains the best and safest way to bring about durable and sustainable peace in Africa and beyond,” Attaf emphasized.
