African Cooperation

In a critical review of European policies towards Africa, the Bundestag on Friday demanded that conventional development aid for Africa be replaced steadily by a long-term strategy of political and economic co-operation.

Addressing the national parliament, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier emphasized that traditional instruments such as debt cancellation and poverty reduction were no longer sufficient to assist African nations in their future development.

He said that the European Union, Germany included, had a major responsibility in creating joint institutions to co-ordinate co-operation and promote good governance and respect for human rights. Steinmeier hinted that past obstacles to arrange summits between African and European leaders which have largely centered on the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe could soon be overcome.

For six, no, even seven years there’s been no summit meeting between EU and African state and government leaders," Steinmeier said. "Together with Portugal which will take over the EU presidency from us in July, we’re poised to remove all remaining obstacles on the way to such a summit meeting which will hopefully take place in September of this year."

Germany must reverse abandonment

Marina Schuster from the opposition Liberal Democrats said co-operation with African nations had to be taken more seriously than in the past. She criticized the fact that even the most basic structures to do this were often not in place and cited understaffed or non-existent German embassies in Africa as an example.

"We definitely need to reinforce our embassy staff in African nations again," Schuster said. "The policy of creeping withdrawal pursued by the former government of Social Democrats and Greens was disastrous. And the situation has not yet been remedied.

"Where we have three embassy people in a given African nation, the French and the British are bound to have 14 or more. Which means that we are confined to operational work, while there’s no capacity for any strategic partnership."

Africa of strategic interest to Germany

Conservative foreign affairs spokesman Eckart von Kläden stressed that increased co-operation with African nations was in Germany’s own strategic interests, including greater energy independence from Russia. He reported about his recent trips to Africa during which his hosts had complained about Europe’s inertia in striking exploration and exploitation deals.

"We’d have liked to co-operate with you, they say, but you don’t offer the sort of all-inclusive contracts that the Chinese do," von Kläden said. "African leaders also don’t have the impression that Germany fully backs partnerships where both sides can act on an equal footing."

German development minister Heidemarie Wiezcorek-Zeul stressed the need to secure more European aid for women in Africa, particularly with a view to improving their access to micro-credits. She also pointed out that more resources were needed in the fight against HIV/AIDS, adding that in sub-Saharan Africa more than 60 percent of all those infected are women.