Latest News Africa-EU Summit Call For Resolving Sudan Stand-Off
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Dec 1, 2010 - 6:54:40 AM
Africa-EU Summit Call For Resolving Sudan Stand-Off
11/30/2010 7:21 PM ET
The third edition of the Africa-European Union summit concluded in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Tuesday with a call for affirmative action on ending the Sudan crisis and enhanced co-operation on major developmental issues in Africa, reports said.
"We aim to continue working towards resolving regional crises in Africa, specifically in Sudan and Somalia," the summit declaration called "Tripoli Declaration" stated.
Several leaders including Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle attended the two-day conclave.
Sudan was conspicuous by its absence and stayed away to protest EU member states' criticism of the scheduled participation of President Omar al-Bashir. AL-Bashir is a fugitive war criminal sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity.
Addressing participants on the final day of the summit, Westerwelle promised economic aid for Sudan if it held a referendum on the proposed autonomy for Southern Sudan as scheduled.
"Peaceful conduct of the referendum and honest results would benefit the whole region," Westerwelle added.
If indeed Southern Sudan were to break away, Bonn would extend "plenty of support in developing effective structures" of government, according to the German Foreign Minister.
An action plan for the Joint Africa-EU Strategy stressing eight areas of partnership--peace and security, democratic governance and human rights, trade and regional integration, millennium development goals, energy, climate change, migration, and science-- originally agreed on at the 2007 Lisbon summit was renewed at this year's conclave.
The next African-EU summit is scheduled to take place in the Belgian capital Brussels in 2013.
