19 EU restrictive measures against
the Republic of Guinea
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| Draft Council Decision amending Council Decision 2010/638/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against the Republic of Guinea
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| Legal base | Article 29 TEU; unanimity
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| Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 15 October 2012
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| Previous Committee Report | None; but see HC 428-xxxix (2010-12), chapter 10 (26 October 2011) and HC 428-xxxviii (2010-12), chapter 9 (19 October 2011); also see (32487) —: HC 428-xvi (2010-11), chapter 15 (9 February 2011); (32020) —: HC 428-iii (2010-11), chapter 18 (13 October 2010) and (31404) —: HC 5-xiv (2009-10) chapter 4 (17 March 2010); also see (31133) —: HC 5-ii (2009-10), chapter 10, (25 November 2009); (30721) 11429/09 HC 19-xxiv (2008-09), chapter 8 (15 July 2009) and (26227) 16041/04, (29544) 7499/08 and (30446) 6543/09: HC 19-x (2008-09) , chapters 7 and 8 (11 March 2009)
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| Discussion in Council | Before 27 October 2012
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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BACKGROUND
19.1 Under Article 96 of the 2000 Cotonou Agreement between
the EU and 77 ACP countries, either party may invite the other
for consultations if it considers that the other has failed to
respect the 'essential' political elements in Article 9: human
rights, democratic principles and the rule of law, or to provide
good governance. Strengthening this political dimension was one
of the main changes introduced in the 2005 revision of the Agreement.
19.2 At the end of 2003, the Commission proposed such consultations
with the government of the Republic of Guinea (GOG), after trying
unsuccessfully for the previous two years to resolve various democratic
shortcomings through normal Article 8 political dialogue.
19.3 As the Committee's earlier reports recall, the previous
Committee took a longstanding interest in developments in Guinea
because of the Commission's endeavours, through the 'Article 96'
process enshrined in the Cotonou Agreement, to strengthen the
link between development assistance and good governance, i.e.,
human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law.
19.4 In 2009, in line with widespread regional and international
condemnation, the EU quickly imposed an arms embargo and travel
restrictions targeting members of the military junta and individuals
associated with them who were responsible for killing 150 or more
unarmed opposition supporters, protesting at Captain Dadis Camara's
intention to run for President in 2010 (despite having forsworn
this when he seized power in a bloodless coup in December 2008).
19.5 In February 2011, the Council Decision was amended to
lift the travel ban and assets freeze on 62 listed individuals
— but not the five persons named as being complicit in the
events of 28 September 2009 by the UN International Commission.
This followed the peaceful election of Alpha Conde as Guinea's
first democratically elected president.
THE 2011 COUNCIL
DECISION
19.6 A year ago, the Committee considered a proposal to renew
the measures for a further 12 months but with an exemption to
the arms embargo to permit non-lethal equipment to be sent to
the police and gendarmerie in Guinea to assist them in
maintaining public order.
19.7 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 17 October 2011, Minister
for Europe said that, under pressure from the international community,
the Government of Guinea had announced much-needed legislative
elections for 29 December 2011. But, despite significant progress
over the past 18 months the situation remained volatile. He therefore
agreed with the EU decision to renew these measures for a further
12 months, which recognised that further progress was still needed.
However, allowing non-lethal crowd control equipment to be sent
to Guinea to assist the authorities there to maintain public order
would allow the EU to work more closely with the Guinean authorities
to ensure that public order was maintained only by the use of
appropriate and proportionate force. Without appropriate equipment,
training and technical assistance, the Guinean security forces
were likely to respond disproportionately to public disorder around
the elections. The UK, working bilaterally and through the EU,
would work to ensure the elections were as free and fair as possible.
OUR ASSESSMENT
19.8 We said that we would have found it more reassuring had
the Minister also provided information about what arrangements
were being made and by whom for the necessary training to be provided,
in the short time remaining between now and the proposed elections
and in an environment not renowned for knowing what constituted
appropriate and proportionate force while maintaining public order.
19.9 We accordingly asked the Minister to provide us with
this information, and in the meantime retained the draft Council
Decision under scrutiny.[79]
THE MINISTER'S
LETTER OF
24 OCTOBER 2011
19.10 The Minister said that he understood the Committee's
concerns, and continued thus:
"The French have gendarmes training the Guinean gendarmerie;
the latter are — partly because of this training —
better motivated and better disciplined. Once this exemption
is in place, they and other EU countries will, in principle, be
able to provide the non-lethal equipment and necessary training,
if requested by the Guinean government, so that public order can
be maintained in a reasonable way. The better equipped and trained
the Guinean gendarmerie and police are, the less likely the
Government is to deploy the army with lethal equipment. The army
was not deployed during the violent demonstrations on 27 September
and we want to encourage that practice of putting the civil forces
to the forefront, particularly bearing in mind the legislative
elections in Guinea planned for 29 December.
"The measures expire on 27 October and the Council
Decision renewing and amending Council Decision 2010/638/CFSP
must be adopted before that date. If it is not then the restrictive
measures will fall away and there will be no EU arms embargo in
place at all. As well as the direct effect this will have with
regard to the UK's policy on the Republic of Guinea it will also
have a negative impact on the UK's ability to use sanctions as
a policy tool in the EU, where the UK is often at the forefront
of driving the EU to impose and flex its sanctions with speed."
OUR
ASSESSMENT
19.11 We noted that renewal of the existing
measures was not the issue: rather, it was the notion of providing
even non-lethal equipment to security forces that, as we said,
were not renowned for knowing what constituted appropriate and
proportionate force while maintaining public order. Even now,
the Minister did not make it entirely clear that equipment would
only be provided in conjunction with the necessary training.
However, in all the circumstances, we were prepared to give the
Minister the benefit of the doubt that this would in fact be the
case, and duly cleared the documents.[80]
19.12 A further amendment was made in March 2012
to allow for the return of a non-combat transport helicopter which
had been sent to Romania for repairs.
19.13 The Committee having made a number of reports
to the House in 2009-11, when the crisis was in full flood, and
the case for this modest amendment being well made, and raising
no questions in and saw little point in a further Report that
would, in effect, give the House a brief political snapshot that
was readily available elsewhere and would quickly become out of
date; and therefore cleared the amendment to the Council Decision
without a substantive report.[81]
THE
DRAFT COUNCIL
DECISION
19.14 This draft Council Decision renews restrictive
measures for 12 months whilst at the same time introducing a further
exemption to the arms embargo with regard to the export of explosives
and related equipment for civilian use in mining and infrastructure
investments in Guinea.
THE
GOVERNMENT'S
VIEW
19.15 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 15 October
2012, the Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington) says that renewal
of the measures recognises that there are still improvements to
be made before the embargo can be fully lifted , but also that
the objective of the arms embargo was not to restrict infrastructure
projects in Guinea that would aid development and growth.
19.16 The Minister continues his comments as
follows:
"Since 2011, Guinea has continued to make progress,
especially in the critical area of security sector reform. The
army is no longer responsible for public order. But this last
year has been politically tense and difficult, with a number of
violent opposition demonstrations in Conakry. Most recently, a
demonstration on 20 September was well handled by the police.
But since then, there have been several clashes between different
groups, during which two people were killed, allegedly by the
police. The circumstances of the deaths are not clear and the
authorities are investigating.
"In an effort to defuse political tensions,
President Conde recently announced a lifting of the ban on demonstrations,
the reorganisation of the National Election Commission and the
resignation of its controversial Chair who has long been mistrusted
by the opposition. This has met several key opposition demands.
There is still no date, however, for the long-delayed legislative
elections which will entrench Guinea's fragile democratic transition.
"Recognising that there is still some way to
go, most importantly the holding of legislative elections, before
sanctions can be lifted entirely, the EU is proposing to renew
restrictive measures. In recognition of the progress that has
been made, and the fact that sanctions were never intended to
target commerce, the EU is also proposing to introduce an exemption
to the arms embargo allowing the export of explosives and related
equipment for civilian use in mining and infrastructure investments
in Guinea. Both are critical parts of the country's economy and
central to Guinea's ongoing economic development, which will benefit
the population."
19.17 The Minister also explains that the exemption
wording sets out certain conditions that are required to be met
before any Member State can authorise the export of explosives
and related equipment:
"This includes ensuring that the contracts for
delivery of such items, assistance and services include appropriate
end-user guarantees and the import of explosives and related items
has been authorised in accordance with national legislation, their
storage and use are controlled and verified by authorities independent
from the security forces and the providers or related services
are identified."
19.18 The Minister concludes by expressing his
full support for the renewal of the measures as well as the introduction
of this further exemption to the arms embargo.
CONCLUSION
19.19 Although the case for this further exemption
is well made and also raises no questions, it is more significant
than the one made this spring; and the whole package will now
be renewed for a further 12 months. We are accordingly reporting
it to the House because of the level of interest in political
developments in West Africa.
19.20 We now clear the document.
79 See headnote: HC 428-xxxviii (2010-12), chapter
9 (19 October 2011). Back
80
See headnote: HC 428-xxxix (2010-12), chapter 10 (26 October 2011)
and HC 428-xxxviii (2010-12), chapter 9 (19 October 2011). Back
81
(33734) -: HC 428-liii (2012-13), chapter 13 (7 March 2012). Back
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