ABSTRACT
Following the end of the Cold War, a significant number of civil wars, regular interstate wars and general instability appeared throughout sub-Saharan Africa. As early as in 1993, the European Commission started to scrutinize the new security challenges facing the African countries in the new international system (Landgraf 1998: 103-17). The 1994 genocide in Rwanda gave additional push to the debates within the European Union (EU) on how to prevent a recurrence of such tragedies in Africa. At several Council of Ministers meetings during the 1990s, security issues were discussed and declarations were adopted stating the EU's concern for the lack of stability in many African countries. At the European Council meeting in 1997, a ‘Common Position’ was issued making it clear that conflict prevention on the continent was an EU priority (Landgraf 1998: 110).
