Solana struck by series of high-level departures

The EU’s special envoy to Sudan Pekka Haavisto is to step down at the end of April, amid uncertainty over the future of his post.

After less than two years in the job, aides to the 48-year-old Finn said that he had decided to return to domestic politics. He is expected to run in Finland’s parliamentary elections in March for the Green Party.

But his departure comes amid rumours of disputes with his boss, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and the departure of four of Solana’s other advisers.

This week it emerged that the EU’s anti-terrorism co-ordinator, Gijs De Vries, will step down from his post at the end of March for personal reasons.

The EU’s envoys to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and Africa’s Great Lakes region will also be replaced.

Diplomats said that the sequence of departures had rekindled discussion about Solana’s own future, amid speculation the Spaniard will leave before the end of his mandate in 2009. "A lot of representatives are leaving, perhaps the big boss will go soon," said one observer.

A spokesperson for Solana described the series of departures as a coincidence, caused by mandates ending at similar times, and said that rumours about Solana’s departure were unfounded.

Haavisto’s departure comes as member states discuss whether to appoint another EU envoy to Sudan beyond February next year.

The Finn was appointed in July 2005 to help solve the ongoing crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region. His task has been severely hampered by competing interests among EU member states.

According to Council of Ministers insiders, "personal chemistry" between Haavisto and Solana had been poor. One diplomat said a point of friction between the two had been the lack of co-ordination of EU diplomatic efforts toward Sudan.

Ahead of Haavisto’s departure, member states are expected to begin potentially fractious discussions on how the EU is represented in Africa.

Proposals currently discussed include scrapping the post of EU special representative to Sudan and appointing instead an envoy responsible for the whole of the Horn of Africa. That would make Haavisto’s successor responsible for the conflicts in Sudan and Ethiopia.

Non-governmental groups, such as Human Rights Watch, say that this would send the wrong message to the region as it would look like a shift of focus away from Darfur.

Diplomatic sources said Solana favours appointing a separate EU special representative for Somalia following the reinstatement of an internationally recognised government in Mogadishu.

Another suggestion is to appoint an EU special representative for the African Union (AU).

Although that proposal appears to have widespread backing as a way of underscoring the importance of the AU, many member states are concerned that the move could be interpreted as a sign that the EU was no longer engaged in Darfur.

But diplomats said the proposal was also being seen as a way of better co-ordinating the EU’s policy on Africa. "There is a need for the EU to draw together all of its representatives in Addis Ababa [the AU’s headquarters] under one roof," said one diplomat.

Supporters of this idea point to the United States’ recent appointment of Cindy Courville, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush, as the US’ first ambassador to the AU.

Dutch diplomat Roeland van de Geer will today (15 February) be appointed as the new EU envoy to the Great Lakes. Van de Geer, a former director of Africa policy at the ministry of foreign affairs and currently Dutch ambassador in Afghanistan, replaces Aldo Ajello, who is retiring. Hungarian diplomat Kalman Mizsei will be appointed as special representative for Moldova, replacing Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged, who is also retiring.

The EU’s special envoy to Sudan Pekka Haavisto is to step down at the end of April, amid uncertainty over the future of his post.