Africa Becoming Estranged from EU.

EU, Africa open new chapter after no-hold-barred summit

by Amelie Bottollier-Depois

EU and African leaders pledged Sunday to create a new partnership of equals at a summit marked by rows over trade and Darfur and a vitriolic attack by Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe on European “arrogance.”

After two days of what hosts Portugal described as a no-holds barred debate, leaders of the two continents put their names to an “Africa-EU Strategic Partnership” agreement to take their relationship to “a new, strategic level.”

They vowed “to move away from a traditional relationship and forge a real partnership characterised by equality and the pursuit of common objectives” and which “capitalises on the lessons of the past.”

And in a post-summit address to his guests, Portugal’s Prime Minister Jose Socrates said the often troubled history between the continents had entered a new era at the first such summit in seven years.

“What is important is that we met each other face-to-face, on an equal setting, in a new spirit,” said Socrates.

“I think I can say the idea that has been expressed most often is that this summit represents the turning of a page in history.”

Ghana’s President John Kufuor, the African Union’s current president, agreed the summit had witnessed frank exchanges but on an equal footing.

“We met at this summit talking plainly and directly as equals,” said Kufuor whose country was the first in Africa to gain independence from a European colonial power, Britain, exactly 50 years ago.

But despite the declaration on a “shared vision” for the future, the shadow of colonialism prevented any real warmth in a summit where starkly different views on issues such as immigration and human rights were on display.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused Mugabe on Saturday of “harming the image of the new Africa” with his rights record.

Mugabe hit back on Sunday, charging British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who boycotted the summit over his presence, was behind criticism of Zimbabwe.

“Yesterday, we heard four countries — Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands — criticise Zimbabwe for lack of human rights for non-observance of the rule of law..,” the Zimbabwean president said at a closed door session.

“Does the German chancellor and the pro-Gordon gang of four of yesterday really believe that they have a better knowledge of Zimbabwe” than African bodies? “It is this arrogance that we are fighting against.”

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir received a similar carpeting from a delegation of European leaders, including Portugal’s Socrates and French President Nicolas Sarkozy who implored him to allow the rapid deployment of a UN-led peacekeeping force to stem the bloodshed in the western Darfur region.

“We told him it is in Sudan’s best interests … that there is a halt to the massacres on its territory and that in order for the massacres to stop, the hybrid (UN-AU) force needs to be deployed as soon as possible,” said Sarkozy.

Wary of China’s growing push into Africa, the European Union has been keen to nail down new trade agreements before the expiration of existing deals at year’s end.

But while the message from Europe was no one would be pressured into agreement, African Union Commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare warned EU negotiators to “avoid playing certain African regions off against each other.”

“No one will make us believe we don’t have the right to protect our economic fabric.”

EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel condemned the comments.

“I think that it was excessive and unjustified and that it was not the best way to defend the interests of Africa,” he said.

Asked how negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) were going, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told reporters: “Not easy.”

“The African countries are more and more afraid to be in some way pushed down by sudden competition, so they are asking for guarantees.”