Bordering on crisis: Europe, Africa, and a new approach to crisis management

Summary:

• A humanitarian catastrophe is emerging to Europe’s south, just as the United States seems set to reduce its international engagement.

• Distracted by other conflicts and alarmed at migration flows, the main focus of European strategy for Africa appears to be ‘containment’. But adopting a 'security belt' approach will not resolve emerging problems, let alone long-term underlying issues.

• Strengthening European civilian crisis management mechanisms and mediating recurrent conflicts can help manage the sources of disorder in west Africa, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa.

• Supporting the African Union and United Nations will be critical to achieving this; particular effort and resource should go towards helping UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres fix what he has called a 'broke and failing' system.

• Taking early steps to tackle humanitarian crises is a chance to show the EU has not entirely lost a sense of strategic purpose and that it is able to meet moral and political imperatives to address human suffering

ESO: Information Guide: European Migration Challenges http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-migration-challenges/

ESO: Background information: Remarks by Federica Mogherini at the Valletta Joint Action Plan 2017 Senior Officials Meeting, February 2017 http://www.europeansources.info/record/remarks-by-federica-mogherini-at-the-valletta-joint-action-plan-2017-senior-officials-meeting/

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