GABORONE - The European Union has managed to set up institutions that have been able to deal with crises in the African continent.

Speaking during a public lecture titled European Foreign, Security and Defence Policy (ESDP): European interventions in Africa at the University of Botswana on Tuesday, Professor Fabien Terpan of the Institute of Political Studies at the University of Grenoble, France noted that while the setting up of institutions is necessary, the most important part is the institutional and human capability to perform their functions during interventions.

Professor Terpan maintained that the ESDPs strategic objectives include humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping, tasks of combat forces in crisis management missions including peace restoring missions, disarmament, military advice, conflict prevention and the fight against terrorism.

He highlighted that the European security strategy seeks to promote effective multilateralism by defending and developing international law in line with the UN Charter and conducting a policy of conflict prevention using a combination of civilian and military capabilities.

On other issues, he said the ESDP has been engaged in operations in the Balkans, Georgia, Moldova/Ukraine, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

In Africa, he explained that the ESDP had been involved in conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Chad/Central African Republic, the Somali coast and Guinea-Bissau.

With regards to the DRC, he explained that the first military operation, Artemis, started in 2003 and was led by the French military to stabilise the security situation.

In 2006, he said, EUFOR supervised the elections which were considered successful by the international community. EUSEC in 2005 supervised the payment of the armed forces in the DRC.

One of the challenges of ESDP in carrying out its mandate, he highlighted, is that it is difficult to promote reform in conflict zones if there is too much mistrust or when locals are not cooperating.

Another handicap, he said, is that sometimes there are some institutional rivalries involving different EU structures.

The existence of two levels of operation by the EU and UN also poses challenges in the execution of ESDPs mandate in Africa.

He however stated that the scope of ESDP operations is limited and has resulted in more civilian than security missions.

He observed that the newly signed Lisbon Treaty would not bind countries to intervene when there are conflicts around the world.

He ruled out talk of a single European foreign policy maintaining that EU member states will still maintain their sovereignty.

He interpreted the appointment of the European Councils new President, Mr Herman van Rompuy of Belgium as an attempt to build bridges and seek consensus among member states.

Currently, he said the contribution of the European Union to Africa is more humanitarian than military.BOPA