Old divides remain as EU, Africa look for new alliance

Dec 9, 2007, 2:13 GMT

Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva (R) and Portuguese Prime Minister and current EU President Jose Socrates (L) welcome South African President Thabo Mbeki prior to a dinner offered by Portuguese president at Ajuda Palace, during the EU/Africa Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, 08 December 2007. EPA/INCACIO ROSA

Lisbon - European and African leaders agreed on the need for a new alliance between the continents on Saturday, but the old divides between them seemed to dog proceedings at the second EU- Africa summit in Lisbon.

The meeting of 26 European and 53 African leaders agreed on the need for a sweeping package of future cooperation agreements, but longstanding differences of opinion on trade and human rights continued to divide the two sides and cause rifts within their ranks.

The first day of the two-day summit was carried out in a 'very friendly environment' with a 'great feeling of solidarity,' and laid the foundations for a 'strategic relationship' between Africa and Europe, said Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado, who represented the host government.

But despite the positive comments, differences of opinion on key issues seemed to highlight the wide gap between the two continents.

Trade, in particular, was a painful topic. For the last five years, the EU and African regions have been negotiating on a series of trade deals known as Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).

Many African states say that the deals are simply unfair, and that the EU is trying to strong-arm them into acceptance before the expiry of a WTO deadline at the end of the year.

'The African states are no longer just exporters of raw materials or just export markets. It's important to avoid thought patterns that belong in the past - poor lands can't be pushed into unfair deals,' the President of the Commission of the African Union, Alpha Oumar Konare, said.

Human rights were also a divisive topic. European and African states have regularly clashed over the issue, with African states viewing EU criticism as post-colonial interference, and the EU seeing the African side as too eager to support unacceptable regimes.

Saturday's talks were intended to launch a new tone in the dialogue between the continents.

But they looked more likely to reinforce the old one as South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki focused on the achievements of African states in approving key human-rights documents such as the Constitutive Act of the African Union, and avoided any mention of crisis states such as Zimbabwe.

'We believe we have established the policy positions we need to address the challenge of governance and human rights on our continent... By far the biggest challenge we face in terms of implementing our programmes is the issue of resources,' he said.

The impression that the two sides have moved no closer together was reinforced as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her reply, singled out Sudan and Zimbabwe as cases of particular concern.

'Sadly, the reality often seems to be that we have to be witnesses of bad rule and the abuse of human rights... The current state of Zimbabwe damages the image of the new Africa,' she said, before mentioning Sudan as another case of bad rule.

And it received further confirmation when Senegal's President Maitre Abdoulaye Wade told journalists that Merkel's speech had been based on poor information.

'Sadly, most of her information is not exact,' Wade said.

The summit between the European and African Unions, which began with a concert on Friday evening, discussed a sweeping range of issues, from climate change to democratic governance.

The meeting is the first in seven years, and only the second such summit ever, after a summit in Cairo in 2000.

And while the first day of talks failed to produce concrete results on key issues, such as the security situation in Darfur or the EU's stalled attempt to send peacekeepers to Chad, diplomats pointed out that the mere fact that it had been held was a success.

'Cairo concentrated on history, on the past. This time we have moved away from that... It's important to look to the future,' Amado said.

Their talks began with ten presentations on key areas for future cooperation: peace and security, good governance and human rights, energy and climate change, trade, and migration.

One leader from each side made a presentation on each issue. Alongside Merkel and Mbeki, Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon opened the talk on peace and security.

Wade and Romano Prodi of Italy discussed trade, while Jose Zapatero of Spain and Moamer Gaddafi of Libya spoke on the issue of migration.

Zapatero proposed a new pact between Africa and Europe on the issue. Spain is one of the EU states worst hit by illegal migration.

Gaddafi said that the EU should set up a 1-billion-euro fund (1.47 billion dollars) to help Africa deal with migration issues.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda talked on energy.