BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) — The European Union (EU) on Wednesday announced that its Commission will support African peace and security actions both at regional and continental levels by replenishing the African Peace Facility (APF) with €300 million ($433.35 million).
The African Union and African Regional Organizations during the 2011-2013 period will have access to the funds in order to support relevant, targeted, continental and regional initiatives in the area of conflict prevention, management and resolution, and peace building.
The APF, which was established by the EU in 2003, provides substantial and predictable funding to African-led peace support operations and relevant capacity building activities for African organizations. It also constitutes the major financing instrument of the Africa-EU strategic partnership in Peace and Security.
EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the EU estimates that more than 200 million people in Africa currently live in conflict zones, which prevents efforts to alleviate poverty.
“Security and stability must be ensured to lay the foundations for sustainable development in Africa,” Piebalgs said. “The Peace Facility has supported a number of African peace support operations in recent years. Today’s decision confirms EU’s steadfast support to African organizations in their actions to prevent conflicts and to maintain peace in critical zones.”
In addition to peace operations, the APF supports the African Peace and Security Architecture, which focuses on the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts. In this area, approximately €100 million ($144.45 million) have been earmarked since 2004 for activities aimed at strengthening capacities of African institutions at the continental and regional level.
“We applaud those countries that have mobilized troops for missions supporting peace, such as Amisom in Somalia,” said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. “However, more effort is still required.”
“We encourage other African countries to step forward and support the AU in this endeavour. And I call on the whole international community to step up their contribution to help build peace and stability in Africa,” she added.
The APF has provided €607 million ($876.8 million) in funding to African-led peace support operations and provided €100 million ($144.45 million) to the strengthening of African institutional capacities in peace and security at continental and regional level, as well as €15 million ($21.7 million) for a number of mediation activities.
Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.
We will delete comments that:
See our full comment/user policy/agreement.