Summary: July 31, 2001: Statement by H.E. Jean De Ruyt on behalf of the European Union. Working group on the causes of conflicts, the promotion of peace and sustainable development in Africa (New York)
Mr. President,
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) and the associated countries Cyprus and Malta as well as Norway, EFTA country belonging to the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.
The EU wishes first of all to thank you for the effort that you personally have put into the progress of the Working Group's proceedings this year. The Working Group provides a forum for discussion, which has enabled all concerned to discuss in detail the problems specifically affecting the African continent, which were raised in the SG's keynote report in 1997. The EU recognizes the importance of the exercise, which has been ongoing since the spring of 2000 in a warm spirit of cooperation and
partnership.
Mr. President,
May I bring to your attention a number of general observations.
The EU is especially appreciative of the fact that the Working Group's discussions in May of this year tackled in depth two topics which are for the EU areas of priority consideration and action in Africa: on the one hand, education, and, on the other, conflict prevention and peace building. This choice of method has facilitated the Group's overall discussions. We have, in fact, been able to focus on more specific subjects.
The EU also thanks you, Mr. President, for the non-paper circulated on 11 July, which contains several options regarding the future of this Working Group and, in particular, raises the question of the effectiveness of the Group's method of operation in the light of its set aim, i.e. the follow-up to the SG's recommendations. Efforts to rationalize the various United Nations initiatives in favor of Africa have been going on for some time already. On 17 July the SG himself stated at the opening
of the high-level segment of ECOSOC in Geneva that the UN system was involved in so many development initiatives in Africa that he could not call to mind the meaning of all the acronyms.
Improving the consistency and effectiveness of the Africa dimension within the UN system must be the goal, which UN Member States set themselves. In the view of the EU, the Working Group should focus on this as a priority issue at this session. We set great store by the contributions and suggestions of our African partners in this regard.
We welcome the fact that discussions by African Heads of State on all the problems affecting their continent have resulted in the adoption, at the Lusaka summit celebrating the birth of the African Union, of a New African Initiative, which will undoubtedly form the basis for the international community's main activities vis-à-vis the African continent.
I should also like to convey to you some general EU observations on the preliminary report submitted to us.
We note that the recently adopted ECOSOC Ministerial Declaration on Africa covers much of the ground, which the draft report before us covers.
The first two sections of the report are very descriptive. However, we regret that European efforts under the Security and Defense Policy to establish growing collaboration with the United Nations in the area of conflict prevention and peace building have been overlooked. Moreover, since our last meeting in May, the European Union has adopted - at the Göteborg summit - a concrete programme for the prevention of violent conflicts.
The EU would like the "Recommendations" section to be more succinct and, as I have said, to address as a priority issue the more general but fundamental question of the future of monitoring the implementation of the SG's recommendations.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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