SOMALIA: EU Seeks Peace and Security Pact
Louis Michel; EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Development was quoted as saying:Â
I am proposing to you a regional pact for stability, security and development in the Horn. This pact would revitalize and complement agreed common programs to address the regional cross-border dynamics and ensure that such programs are fully effective. (…) This strategy should focus, in particular, on regional governance, natural resources management, food security, border control and nonproliferation of small arms,” he told eastern Africa leaders in Nairobi. (…)The history of the EU can be a source of inspiration for the region. The EU has thrived and flourished because it has overcome long-standing rivalries and hatred.
Louis Michel went on by saying:
Nowadays, your regional political forum, IGAD, has become a central part of the political and security architecture of the Horn of Africa. It needs to be utilized to its full potential. Butthis requires genuine political will and commitment.
 Well, I will need to study the full strategy text before I can make an educated judgment. However, my gut-feeling tells me that this “strategy†is nothing more than Europe’s covert way of trying to curb immigration from the Horn of African countries. I don’t think this is something that will have positive impact in terms of security and economic development for the countries concerned. It is an old anti-immigration strategies sugar coated with a gentler political rhetoric. It will not work!