EU Presidency Statement - Durable Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa

Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, and the Associated Countries - Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, as well as the EFTA countries of the European Economic Area - Iceland and Norway, align themselves with this statement.

Africa has been given high priority on the agenda of this years' General Assembly. And rightly so. The birth of the African Union (AU), the consolidation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and the recent positive prospects of ending some of Africa's protracted conflicts in Angola, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Sierra Leone and Sudan are notable political developments that could augur well for the future of the African continent and its peoples.

Here at the UN, we have already been able to engage in substantive discussions of the challenges and opportunities facing Africa. The High Level Plenary meeting on September 16, 2002 on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the ensuing review of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa (UN-NADAF) clearly underlined the magnitude of development challenges facing Africa. It also reaffirmed the need for a concerted effort by the international community to lend its full support in assisting African efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

Let me begin by commenting briefly on the recently concluded review of UN-NADAF. The European Union is pleased with the outcome of the negotiations in the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole. We have drawn lessons from UN-NADAF that will be applied to the implementation of NEPAD and the organisation of the future United Nations system support for NEPAD.

First of all, we firmly established NEPAD as the future framework, around which the international community, including the United Nations system, should concentrate its efforts for Africa's development. Secondly, we called upon the UN system to ensure a coherent response in support of the implementation of NEPAD at country level. Finally, we agreed to include a single comprehensive item on the development of Africa on the annual agenda of the General Assembly.

Mr. President,

I would now like to turn to the progress report of the Secretary General on the implementation of the recommendations on the causes of conflict and the promotion of a durable peace and sustainable development in Africa.

The European Union is committed to working with African partners in strengthening regional and local capacities for conflict prevention, management and resolution. Currently the EU is looking at ways to further reinforce and broaden support for the development of African capacity in the area of conflict prevention and resolution. And the EU is committed to help strengthen and consolidate UN peace support operations and assisting post-conflict reconstruction efforts. This co-operation is rooted in the fundamental principle of ownership, meaning that the primary responsibility lies with Africa itself. In this regard, we welcome the Peace and Security Initiative of NEPAD, including the Peace and Security Council of the African Union which is based on this principle and which will reshape the framework for strengthening the African security architecture. In this respect, we also acknowledge the vital role to be played by the African subregional organisations, in contributing to the resolution of conflicts. They are important building blocks for African political and economic integration and they have the potential to contribute to securing peace and prosperity in Africa.

The report rightly points to the ways in which proliferation of arms, in particular small arms and light weapons is fuelling conflicts. The European Union is actively engaged in trying to prevent the excessive accumulation of arms in Africa. But for any effort to be sustainable, there clearly is a need to develop much more effective mechanisms for arms control with the African Union and in particular with the subregional organizations.

The fight for control over natural resources is yet another very apparent source of conflict in Africa. In this regard, the European Union encourages the continuation of the Kimberley process, which plays an important role for the prevention of conflicts in Africa.

Finally, we commend the United Nations for having decided to scale up its response to situations of conflicts and peace-building in Africa. We consider the United Nations to be a very important global actor in this respect. The establishment of the Security Council ad hoc working group on conflict prevention and resolution in Africa and the recent establishment of an ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on African Countries Emerging from Conflict may provide opportunities to enhance coordination between these two bodies. We need to recognise and act upon integrated and complimentary approaches to conflict resolution, peace building and development in Africa, as called for by the Secretary General.

I thank you, Mr. President.

| Arriba |

• EU Presidency Statement - Environment and sustainable development (13/11/2002)
• EU Presidency Statement - The Congo (5/11/2002)
• Speech by Commissioner Lamy on NEPAD (9/10/2002)
• EU humanitarian aid for South Africa (2/10/2002)
• EU Presidency Statement - NEPAD (25/9/2002)
• EU Presidency Statement - NEPAD (16/9/2002)
• European Commission Statement on NEPAD (16/9/2002)