European NGOs evaluate the French presidency

In a 24-page document titled “Are France and its European partners still interested in Central Africa?”, issued during a press conference in Paris on Monday, European NGOs evaluated the role of the French presidency of the European Union (EU) in the context of the Great Lakes region. Reviewing the 12 propositions they launched last June, the NGOs, led by the Concertation chretienne pour l’Afrique centrale (CCAC) and the Great Lakes Advocacy Network (GLAN), noted in the document that diplomacy was vainly searching for a way out of the conflicts in the region.

They pointed out that in spite of a ray of hope in Burundi and some positive developments in Rwanda, the military option continued to prevail in the DRC, to the detriment of the prospects of the local populations. Although the NGOs hailed France’s role in the UN Security Council, particularly in reinforcing the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), they said that “France had done hardly anything to promote a joint European policy in the region, because Paris never regarded the issue as a priority”.

The NGOs deplored the indifference of Western politicians and media towards Central Africa, a matter which posed new challenges for the Swedish and Belgian presidencies of the EU in 2001. They called in particular for a public debate on EU aid to the countries at war in DRC, stressing that the EU had “the capacity to bring influence to bear which is out of proportion to its human and financial means”. [Document in French available from the following email address: [email protected]]