EU envoy vows to work with African Union

The European Union will no longer unilaterally condemn African leaders who commit human rights violations but will work with the African Union (AU) to address these situations, the EU’s new Africa envoy, Koen Vervaeke, has said.

Vervaeke, the first person to hold a newly created post combining both European Commission and Council of Ministers functions, said that the AU must be given more responsibility to deal with problems on the continent.

"Europe has to listen better and also lay more responsibility on the African side," said Vervaeke, who begins working from his Addis Ababa-based office on Monday (14 January).

"If at one stage we diverge in our views with the Africans then we have to discuss it…Europe can never be like it acted in the past where things were done without consultation," he added.

AU Chairman John Kufuor’s efforts to find a solution to the crisis in Kenya following the disputed election results showed how the organisation could take a lead in solving problems, Vervaeke said.

His main task as EU special representative and head of the Commission delegation to the African Union will be to implement a joint EU-Africa strategy. The strategy, which was signed at the EU-Africa summit in December, involves co-operation on issues such as climate change, migration, energy and human rights.

Vervaeke said that he would present a first report on implementation of the strategy by the end of this year.

"With the strategy we are entering a new phase away from the old reflexes of the past and we are moving away from the development assistance agenda to a shared interest between the two sides," he said.

Implementation of the joint strategy could also help change the negative image that Europe has in parts of Africa, mainly because of perceived European political interference in the continent’s affairs and aggressive trade deals.

But Vervaeke questioned the slowness in EU member states’ contribution to equipment for the military mission that the EU is expected to deploy shortly in Chad. "There is a clear need for resources and there are high demands on all continents. But it is difficult to see that in the EU, with so much capacity, that it cannot come up with five or six helicopters…it is difficult to understand," he said.

The EU’s much delayed peacekeeping mission to Chad will be launched in the coming weeks, after participating countries agreed, following much procrastination, to provide helicopters and medical facilities.

The European Union will no longer unilaterally condemn African leaders who commit human rights violations but will work with the African Union (AU) to address these situations, the EU’s new Africa envoy, Koen Vervaeke, has said.