Background and context
The Sahel region is one of the poorest in the world. Countries of the Sahel face considerable challenges related to extreme poverty, internal tensions, institutional weaknesses, a growing demography, frequent food crises, fragile governance, illegal trafficking, radicalization and violent extremism.
The EU has been concerned by the deteriorating political, security, humanitarian and human rights situation in the Sahel region since the early 2000s. This situation predated the Libyan crisis, but was further exacerbated by its consequences.
In March 2011, the EU adopted a comprehensive approach to the Sahel region, using as reference an EU Strategy for Security and Development based on the assumptions that development and security are mutually supportive and that the issues faced in the Sahel require a regional answer. This strategy includes four lines of actions:
- Development, good governance and internal conflict resolution;
- Political and diplomatic action;
- Security and the rule of law;
- Countering violent extremism and radicalisation.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Mali, the Council has reiterated the EU's resolve to accelerate and enhance the implementation of this Strategy in order to help tackle the regional consequences of the crisis. This Strategy has proven indeed a crucial tool to enhance the coherence of the EU approach and to mobilise considerable additional European efforts, with a particular focus on Mauritania, Niger and Mali.
Under the 10th European Development Fund (2007-2013) alone, more than € 1.5 billion were allocated to these three countries to mainly support good governance, rule of law, justice, decentralisation process, agriculture and rural development, social sectors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), economic development and infrastructures.
Two CSDP missions were launched in Niger (EUCAP SAHEL Niger) and Mali (European Union Training Mission - EUTM) in order to support respectively Nigerien internal security forces and the Malian army. Mr Reveyrand de Menthon was appointed EU Special Representative in March 2013 in order to help guide the EU action in support of regional and international efforts to restore peace, security and sustainable development in the Sahel. He is also mandated to help coordinate the EU global approach to the crisis, using the EU Sahel Strategy as a basis.
The EU Sahel Strategy today
Today, this Strategy continues to provide the key framework for EU action at both individual and collective levels to help countries in the wider Sahel-Sahara region to address key security and development challenges. But the EU is committed to interpret it dynamically in order to extend the scope of implementation to countries other than Mali, Mauritania and Niger while developing a new approach to the links between Sahel and Maghreb within the Sahel-Sahara wide region.
The EU is committed to enhance coordination with other regional and international actors in order to ensure the effectiveness of the international collective action in the Sahel. In the framework of the joint United Nations – African Union – EU – World Bank – African Development Bank mission of November 2013, Commissioner Piebalgs pledged 5 Bn EUR for 2014-2020. In the framework of the same mission, the EU supported the establishment of an international coordination platform for the Sahel under Malian chairmanship for the two coming years.
In order to follow up on this mission and help establish this coordination platform more firmly, the EU is hosting a high level meeting on the Sahel on 6 February 2014 under the auspices of the Prime Minister of Mali.
