Brussels, Nov. 18, 2024 (Lusa) - European Union foreign ministers on Monday gave final approval to the appointment of João Gomes Cravinho, a former minister of foreign affairs from Portugal, as special representative for the Sahel, a strategic region for the EU in terms of security and stability.
"The Council today appointed João Cravinho as EU Special Representative (EUSR) for the Sahel region," the institution said in a statement. "The new EUSR will actively contribute to regional and international efforts to achieve lasting peace, security, stability and sustainable development in the region, which includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
"The EUSR will also collaborate with the countries of the Lake Chad basin and with other countries and regional or international entities within and outside the region, including the Maghreb and the Gulf of Guinea and neighbouring countries affected by the dynamics of the Sahel," it continued.
The appointment had been agreed last week, and was formalised on Monday in Brussels, with Gomes Cravinho due to start in his new position in December, serving until August 2026.
The position was created in 2013 to promote political dialogue, coherence and coordination.
The Sahel is an extensive area that runs the length and breadth of Africa, from Senegal to Eritrea, but the EU's focus will be on Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger. Three of these (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) have suffered coups d'état in recent years, and special attention is also be paid to the countries on the Atlantic coast.
The region is very important for the EU in terms of security and stability, international commitments on climate and sustainable development and migratory routes linked to Europe.
At the moment, the Sahel is experiencing several simultaneous crises, such as a security crisis with regular attacks by armed rebels or Islamist groups against civilians and security forces, also fuelled by interethnic violence, with more than 4,000 people estimated to have died in 2019 alone due to such attacks.
The EU's approach combines political commitment, support for security and defence, and extensive humanitarian and development assistance; since 2014 the EU and its member states have mobilised around €8 billion in total for the purpose.
Speaking to Lusa in mid-October, João Gomes Cravinho said that the EU is the only global power capable of taking an active interest in the region at a time when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other international entities have other concerns.
"I won't be short of work, and neither will the strategic importance of the region for Europe," the former minister said at the time. "If we don't take care of this, and nobody else will, because the United States looks at the Sahel as a problem that affects Europe, NATO doesn't have the tools or the vocation to work here either, so it's up to the European Union to use its tools to generate a different dynamic in the region."
ANE/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
