Security, governance & migration

Bougainville was granted autonomy following a bitter civil war in the 1990s. It is now readying for a referendum on independence.

Glamour and a gifted activism for the cause of migrants

EU member states are becoming increasingly inward-looking and eager to promote aid policies which prioritise foreign or domestic policy objectives. These are the main conclusions of the annual AidWatch report by CONCORD, released on May 19th in Brussels.

Except for the Solomon Islands, where a coup d’état lasted only a few weeks, Fiji is the only Pacific island state to have experienced military coup d’etat and, despite unanimous condemnation by the international community, the head of the army, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has ruled the country since December 2006. Paradoxically, while postponing elections until 2014 he is nevertheless the first leader to have genuinely sought to ensure the equality of all Fijian citizens.

Deployed in Uganda for the past year, the Europeans are now discreetly completing the training of almost 2,000 Somali soldiers. This represents a new kind of mission for a European Union that is better known for its involvement in economic or social development projects. An example for the future?

The use of the private sector to provide security is spreading like an oil slick across the world. Especially in the so-called ‘risk’ countries that are relatively numerous in Africa and the Caribbean, but which are also present in the Pacific, such as Papua New Guinea. What is more, in certain cases the dividing line between their ‘defensive’ and ‘offensive’ role is becoming increasingly blurred. An international convention to regulate the sector is currently being prepared.

Africa represents the ideal field for testing the procedures of the European Security and Defence Policy. That is the view of Niagalé Bagayoko-Penone, an expert on Security and Development at Sussex University’s Institute for Development Studies (IDS) in the United Kingdom.

Faced with the increased incidence of wars in certain ACP Group regions, often reducing their development efforts to zero, conflict prevention was recognized as a priority in the cooperation agreements signed in Cotonou in 2000 between the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and their principal partner, the European Union. These provisions assumed particular importance with the entry into force of the European External Action Service on 1 December 2010.

At his inauguration as president of Ivory Coast on Saturday 21st May in Yamassoukro, the political capital of the country, Alassane Ouattara placed emphasis on Ivorians gathering together, while awaiting reconciliation between political enemies. The official proclamation of the results took place on 5th May, six months after the elections. The intervening period was marked by oppression from both the army and the supporters of the former president Laurent Gbagbo, with the country nearing a state of civil war.