Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-064"
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"Mr President, Mr Barroso, Madam High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Commissioner for Development, honourable Members of the European Parliament, honourable Members of Mali, I should like to begin by congratulating you, Mr Buzek, on your appointment as President of the European Parliament but, above all, I should like sincerely to thank the chairs of the political groups and all the MEPs for having done me the honour of inviting me here today, firstly, to share with you my thoughts concerning some major challenges that my country and the whole of Africa face, and, secondly, and above all, to highlight the day-to-day efforts that my country is making to find appropriate solutions.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, as I stand here before you, the elected representatives of Europe, I should like to express the profound gratitude of the Malian people for the quality and level of cooperation between the European Union and Mali.
The European Union is Mali’s principal development partner. We receive the second-largest amount of aid from the European Development Fund (EDF) in sub-Saharan Africa.
I should like to express my satisfaction, above all, with the fine way in which our cooperation is applied in practice.
For example, the 9th EDF has been fully allocated, and implementation of the 10th EDF, which began almost two years ago, continues on a very strong footing.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the results of our cooperation have a direct impact on people’s quality of life; they also strengthen the foundations of our democratic system.
Initiated after the events that led to the
of 26 March 1991, the democratic process in Mali has been marked by certain key milestones, including the democratic transition from 26 March 1991 to 8 June 1992, which was completed within the time limits of, and in accordance with, the commitments made.
Following a 14-month transition period, free and democratic elections were held in 1992. Ten years later, in 2002, I took office at the end of a presidential election that marked Mali’s first ever peaceful and democratic changeover of political power.
Ladies and gentlemen, following my election, I proposed to the Malian political community a form of consensual leadership, the philosophy of which was essentially based on the following formula: to govern together, while respecting our differences.
What makes Mali’s experience unique is the fact that it did not result from any post-electoral crisis. A conscious and voluntary move is being made to address the need for joint efforts by political, social and community groups to further development in Mali.
In my view, power must be a force for cohesion rather than for division, and respect must be shown for fundamental freedoms as a whole.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mali covers a surface area of 1 240 000 km
and is situated at the heart of West Africa, sharing a 7 000 km border with seven other countries. A country with an age-old civilisation that is endowed with a rich and varied cultural heritage, Mali’s prestigious history may be told through a number of events, landmarks and symbols.
I should point out that the political consensus that we reached – that I proposed – is not the same thing as unanimity. Consensus is more the notion of compromise.
The political consensus in Mali is an advanced attempt at building this new and constantly evolving political system in Africa, and here I am referring to broad government coalitions.
Mali’s experience has been one of uniting all the political groups around the vision of an independently elected president.
The political consensus has strengthened the foundations of reconciliation between the political community’s key players and the Republic’s institutions, on the one hand, and between the politicians themselves, on the other.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is in this same spirit of consensus that we have begun efforts to consolidate democracy in Mali, after 20 years’ practice.
The committee of experts responsible for overseeing this exercise has held meetings with the political community, civil society, religious groups, trade unions and traditional institutions.
The reforms proposed at the end of these consultations are primarily aimed at remedying the shortcomings and weaknesses revealed by institutional practice, at achieving a strong public turnout at elections and reducing the cost of elections, at strengthening the capacities of political parties, and at defining a statute for the opposition and for the leader of the opposition. They will be the subject of a constitutional referendum, which will, of course, be held following their adoption by the National Assembly of Mali.
This is a fitting moment for me to pay tribute here, before you, to Mali’s members of parliament, with whom I maintain the best possible relations, whether they are on the side of the presidential majority or of the opposition. May I express my sincere gratitude to those members of parliament for having agreed to accompany me here, to Strasbourg.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, decentralisation will always play a leading role in Mali’s political and institutional development. I would point out that our great empires – and we have had many of them since the 10th century – were all decentralised. In our country, therefore, decentralisation is a reality.
One that I would like to mention is the Charter of Kurukan Fuga. Adopted 776 years ago, when the Mali Empire was founded by Sundiata Keita in 1236, the Charter of ‘Kurukan Fuga’ had all the qualities of a constitution. It codified the organisation of power, restrictions and obligations, the defence of human rights and civil liberties, the protection of professional activities, and the protection of persons and their goods.
The original approaches to decentralisation developed and implemented by Mali were based on the following factors: firstly, the foundation of political will aligned with the belief that decentralisation cannot succeed without deconcentration, which has to be implemented in phases. It cannot succeed without the development and implementation of major reforms aimed at improving economic and social governance, especially at local level. It cannot succeed without the continued financial and, above all, technical support of the European Union.
The Administrative Reform Support Project (PARAD) and the Institutional Development Programme (PDI) have both benefited from European support. They help to improve the organisation of the state and to modernise the state administration by strengthening its capabilities.
Mali comprises 703 urban and rural communes, 49 circles, or territorial units comprising several communes, 8 regions and 1 district, which are governed by commune councils, circle councils and regional assemblies. A High Council of territorial communities ensures that our decentralised bodies are represented nationally. The creation of a senate is envisaged as part of the proposed political reforms to strengthen our decentralisation process.
In an effort to support local development, an original financial instrument, the National Agency for Territorial Community Investment (ANICT), has enabled us to implement a number of community facilities and, above all, to provide basic social services to our communities.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in taking the floor before this august assembly, I also wished to address the issue of immigration. Migration concerns us all, since it is a multifaceted issue for every one of us, for every one of our countries: demographic and economic issues, social and humanitarian considerations, and identity and security concerns all come under the umbrella of migration.
The task for us today is to find areas of shared interest and incentives that will help ensure that migration contributes to the overall growth and general well-being of our two continents. That is the challenge we face.
The brain drain constitutes the highest cost of migration for African countries, given the limited number of qualified personnel in many areas, such as education, but especially healthcare. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), 40% of African countries have seen 35% or more of their university graduates move abroad.
Let us make no mistake, however: Africans migrate first and foremost within Africa. Of the estimated 1 billion Africans, barely 2 million from sub-Saharan Africa live in Europe.
The tragedy of these young people, of these women and girls, who try to cross deserts, seas and oceans to reach the paradise of Europe, at the mercy of every kind of danger – unscrupulous, pardon the term, smugglers – remains fresh in our minds. How many have died of thirst? How many have died at the bottom of the sea and disappeared?
No statistic could ever reflect the reality of the situation.
One of its articles was worded as follows, and I quote: ‘The human person is sacred and inviolable.’ It thus proclaimed, some centuries ahead of its time, what would go on to become one of the key principles of modern-day democratic constitutions. I felt it important to recall this in the great forum for democratic expression that is the European Parliament.
To take the example of my country, Mali, which has a high incidence of immigration and emigration, of the 4 million Malians worldwide, 3.5 million live on the African continent and roughly 200 000 throughout the whole of Europe and the rest of the world.
Economically speaking, the income transfers of the Malian diaspora are estimated at EUR 456 million per year, or 11% of GDP, according to a study by the African Development Bank carried out in 2005. According to the same sources, these transfers equate to 85% of the official development aid Mali receives each year.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this is an opportunity for me to praise the quality of the political dialogue between the European Union and Mali on migration issues.
Co-development is an asset. It enables a number of our partners to fund vocational training programmes for young people in various employment sectors and to support local entrepreneurship initiatives, without forgetting the programmes for reintegrating returning migrants.
The political dialogue on migration between the European Union and West Africa has enabled us to launch a pilot project, with the creation of the Migration Information and Management Centre (CIGEM) in Bamako. The centre’s remit is to improve knowledge in relation to migratory trends; to accommodate, advise, guide and support potential and returning migrants; to provide information on the legal conditions of migration; to raise awareness among the population with regard to the prevention of illegal migration; and to develop the human, financial and technical resources of Malians from abroad.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the security issue is an important aspect of our relations with the European Union. It is therefore appropriate to talk to you about the Sahel-Saharan strip, which is now a common threat, including for Europe.
Covering an area of 8 million km
or one quarter of the African continent, and stretching from Mauritania to Sudan via Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Chad, the Sahelian strip has a population density per km
of almost zero, some of the most difficult terrain around, mountain ranges stretching over hundreds of kilometres and sand dunes covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometres. It is a very hostile area, with a particularly harsh climate.
The temperature can be just 1 degree in December and 50 degrees in the shade from February onwards.
The region’s sole activity remains intensive rearing in one of the most inhospitable environments there is. This year’s drought, for example, cost us 50% of our livestock in the Sahel-Saharan strip.
The history of Mali also includes Timbuktu: the mysterious city, the city of 333 saints, which, in the 16th century, already housed 25 000 students, who came from many countries to listen to scholars in the shadow of the ancient Sankore mosque and its university complex.
The local populations live in precarious conditions, and their young people have no alternative but to enlist as soldiers in all manner of criminal groups. Young people remain a key concern.
Mali is situated in the central-western part of the Sahel-Saharan strip, which covers an area of 650 000 km
or 70% of the total surface area of our country.
Mali is a transit area, and I say forcefully today: my country, too, is both hostage and victim of the cross-border threats that come from elsewhere and are essentially bound for other regions and other continents. These threats are primarily cigarette smuggling, traffickers of illegal immigrants to Europe, drugs from South America, and Salafist groups from the Maghreb.
They take the form of hostage-takings and assassinations, but their main characteristic is their extreme mobility: they move along the borders between countries.
None of the threats that I have just mentioned originate in our country; none of them are bound directly for us. Mali is a secular country with, of course, a large Muslim majority. Islam has been practised since the ninth century. We have always practised Islam peacefully and, above all, with respect for the human person.
We therefore fail to understand the Islamic fundamentalist ideology preached in the Sahel-Saharan strip.
It is yet to have much of a religious impact, but for how long will that be the case? That is the question we have to answer.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the countries of the Sahel-Saharan region, which include Mali, have long been making efforts, both in human terms, and in material and financial terms, to curb the phenomenon of insecurity, the transnational nature of which, it must be said and acknowledged, is assuming increasingly worrying proportions. The scale of the phenomenon is such as to justify the development and adoption by Mali of a national policy to combat insecurity and terrorism in the Sahel-Saharan strip.
This policy will essentially be based, firstly, on support for the populations, to ensure that they take ownership of security policy; on assistance for vulnerable populations, by meeting their basic needs and, above all, by providing long-term access to basic social services; on the adoption of new measures for implementing this security policy; on the strengthening of small arms and light weapons recovery programmes, as part of the fight against their proliferation; and on the establishment of subregional cooperation, to enable us to take action at local level
Mahmud Kati, author of the ‘Tarikh al-fattash’, gives the following account of the period, and I quote: ‘Timbuktu was recognised for the strength of its institutions, political freedoms, the safety of persons and goods, the mercy and compassion shown to the poor and to foreigners, the courtesy extended to students and to men of science and the assistance provided to those people.’
In order to demonstrate the great importance of these security issues, Mali has established a centre to conduct analyses and issue proposals on the fight against terrorism and the other threats, which reports to the President of the Republic. This initiative is supported by the European Union, which we congratulate and thank, and by certain Member States represented here.
What is more, we have also created a national office for the prevention of drugs trafficking, and strengthened our legal arsenal.
Ladies and gentlemen, in line with the strategic priorities of the insecurity and terrorism prevention programme, Mali has launched an emergency programme – which we have called PIRIN – to reduce insecurity and combat terrorism in the north of Mali during the period 2010 to 2012.
PIRIN’s overall objective is to significantly reduce, if not eliminate altogether, the causes of insecurity in the north of Mali, through the implementation of powerful measures in the area of security and above all, I would stress, in the area of community development.
The strategy to be developed will be based, firstly, on a responsible and, above all, rational occupation by the state administration; the increased mobility of troops engaged in prevention or intervention exercises; the creation of a relevant network in the target area with infrastructure for the armed forces and the security forces; and the mobilisation of society, in order to curb the influence of religious sects and criminal groups.
As far as funding for the emergency programme is concerned, the government of the Republic of Mali and the local authorities will meet, for our part, the costs of personnel, operations and administrative, social and community facilities.
The project will be managed by an ad hoc body in the shape of a task force that is able to receive sectoral budgetary support and coordinate several intervening parties and ministerial departments.
Ladies and gentlemen, managing the Sahel-Saharan strip is primarily about lucid and objective analysis within the scope of what is, above all, a common vision. That is why, in 2006, I personally proposed a conference on development and peace in the Sahel-Saharan strip.
We must share the responsibility today. No country in the Sahel-Saharan strip is spared, but no country can act alone against the various threats, either.
It is important, however, to highlight the significant lack of subregional cooperation in the face of the cross-border challenges.
In 2006, Timbuktu was proclaimed the capital of Islamic culture.
It is also important to stress that this fight against terrorism is not just about security. We have seen the limits of that approach.
The fight against terrorism is primarily about elected representatives, local authorities and populations making a commitment and involving themselves. However, the backbone of this fight will be local development, so that we can offer alternatives to the communities of the North, and to young people in particular.
By training people, we can certainly strengthen our operational, logistical and information-gathering capabilities, but the fight against criminal networks is essentially the responsibility of the countries situated in the Sahel-Saharan strip.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, earlier on, I stressed the need to offer a better future to the inhabitants of the arid areas of the Sahel-Saharan strip. I would add, however, that this aspiration to social progress and well-being is shared by all our compatriots.
That is why development issues and especially the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals must be addressed at the highest level.
Mali has taken a number of initiatives to speed up its programme. These include the initiative of the 166 rural communes that face the most security problems, the ‘Millennium Villages’ initiative, and the initiative in the field of healthcare, which we have called COMPACT.
We are certain that not all of the objectives will be achieved, but we have made significant progress both in Mali and in Africa as a whole with regard to educational provision, the reduction in the AIDS prevalence rate and, above all, the provision of access to drinking water.
We have high hopes for the summit that is due to take place in a few days’ time in New York, where the aim will be to speed up implementation of the MDGs. Concentrating efforts on the countries and regions that are lagging behind, as the European Union emphasises in the spring package, is essential in our view.
Mr President, Mr Barroso, Madam High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Commissioner for Development, honourable Members of the European Parliament, honourable Members of Mali, Mali, which, in two weeks’ time, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence – I should like to point out, as a matter of interest, that the Federal Republic of Germany was the first country to recognise Mali, two days after our independence, or on 24 September 1960 to be more precise – my country is grateful to the European Union for the significant part it has played in its development.
The honour you do us today by welcoming us to your Parliament’s plenary session fills me with great hope as to our desire and our ability to go even further, against a backdrop of trust and, above all, of friendship.
Mali is also synonymous with the Dogon country, which is known throughout the world for its exceptional nature and its cultural richness, which make it our country’s number one tourist destination.
Ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank you for your very kind attention.
The history of Mali is also the history of its age-old relationship with Europe. As a reminder, Emperor Mansa Musa, more commonly known by the name Kanku Musa, established diplomatic relations with Portugal back in the 14th century."@en1
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