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Most viewed in Foreign affairs
South Sudan wants EU to send troopsChief negotiator calls for EU involvement in strengthened UN force to end conflict with Sudan. |
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The Joint Africa-EU Strategy, agreed by leaders from both continents at a summit in Lisbon in 2007, promised to “treat Africa as one” and to create a “continent-to-continent partnership” between the European Union and the African Union. (The only African country that is not a full member of the AU is Morocco, which does not recognise Western Sahara, which is a member.) In the strategy, the EU committed itself to assisting the AU's institutional development, a commitment that still applies today.
The AU was launched in 2002 as a successor to the ineffectual Organisation for African Unity, with Libya's leader Muammar Qaddafi a main driving force behind the change. Its institutions were closely modelled on those of the EU: both organisations have a permanent commission and a range of other bodies, while an assembly of African governments mirrors the EU's Council of Ministers.
The AU's first serious challenge came with the conflict in Darfur in 2003, in which the AU deployed monitors and then peacekeepers. While the mission lacked effectiveness, especially in its early days, it nevertheless increased security in some places and allowed aid workers and reporters to move in. Since 2007, the AU has been embroiled in Somalia's civil war.
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