Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-19-Speech-3-487-000"
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"en.20110119.24.3-487-000"2
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"Mr President, I want to begin as Mr Danjean did, with the terrible news of the death of two young Frenchmen who were kidnapped 10 days ago in Niger’s capital, Niamey, and killed only a few hours later. We have condemned what is a truly appalling crime and I reiterate our condolences to their families, as well as to those of Niger’s officers who were killed during the ensuing shooting. I want to express solidarity with the French authorities and the authorities of Niger.
Fourthly, in order to prevent and fight against extremism and radicalisation, we need to support states and legitimate non-state actors in designing and implementing strategies and activities, with the aim of fighting Islamic radicalisation and promoting democratic, tolerant and non-violent visions for society.
Our endeavour will be to use, in a coherent manner, the short-term and long-term instruments that we have in order to implement the different components of this strategy. Member States’ engagement to build into the strategy will, of course, be part of this.
I am working very closely with Commissioner Piebalgs, whose involvement in the preparation of the security and development strategy is essential, to ensure the necessary resources for its implementation.
I am convinced that if we set up this new comprehensive and holistic strategy, continuing the political, diplomatic and operational development strands of our engagement in the Sahel, we will give a new impetus to tackling the multiple threats and challenges that this region faces. I am looking forward to presenting this strategy properly in a few weeks’ time and involving the honourable Members of the European Parliament in discussion.
Of course, another five French citizens are still being held hostage somewhere in the desert of northern Mali by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. In the last year alone, 10 European citizens were kidnapped and four were killed.
The security situation in the Sahel is alarming: organised crime networks, weak state presence in the desert zones and low capacity of security sectors in addition to widespread poverty, drought and food shortages. These threats pose a serious challenge to development work and prospects, as it has become too risky for those engaged in development to continue their operations in this environment.
The EU and its Member States have been contributing for several years to tackling the development and the security problems in individual Sahel countries, but threats to security transcend national borders and the only possible, the only effective response is a regional and comprehensive one. We need to make the ongoing European engagement in the Sahel more coherent, more coordinated and more effective.
Last October, the Foreign Affairs Council gave me the task of preparing, in association with the Commission, a strategy for the Sahel for the beginning of this year. This strategy was to be based on a holistic and integrated approach, making use of the various instruments at our disposal in a coherent way, so we can foster security, stability, development and good governance in Sahel.
I believe that, in order to respond to the complexity of the challenges of the Sahel, we have to act at various different levels. Firstly, we need a political and diplomatic dimension. That is necessary to ensure that we facilitate dialogue between the Sahel countries, which continue to harbour mutual distrust. We should build on the national strategies that we have – where they exist – and encourage the setting up of regional initiatives and tools to jointly address security threats.
In parallel, the EU should reinforce the dialogue on security in the Sahel with the Maghreb countries, regional organisations – the African Union, ECOWAS and CEN-SAD – and also the international community at large, and the United Nations, the United States and Canada in particular.
Secondly, we need to assist the Sahel countries in enhancing the capabilities of the security sectors – army, police, justice and border control systems – in each country. They must be able to effectively re-establish the rule of law and security and redeploy state authority in the most sensitive regions. We will encourage regional cooperation between Mali, Mauritania and Niger at an operational level so they can jointly and more effectively face the threat of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, organised crime and domestic banditry.
Thirdly, in the longer term, the EU should continue to contribute to the development of the Sahel countries in order to help them increase their capabilities to provide social services and development to the population. Individual countries will continue to promote internal stability and help find both socio-economic solutions and solutions to ethnic tensions."@en1
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"Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Affairs and Security Policy."1
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