Borrell admits EU spending, training failed to bolster democracy in Africa

The EU's top diplomat has said that $640 million spent training security personnel in the Sahel had failed to bolster democracy after Niger became the latest partner to suffer a coup.

"When I do my sums, it shows me that over the past 10 years, we've spent over 600 million euros ($640 million) on civilian and military training missions in the Sahel," EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament on Tuesday.

Borrell said that during that period, around 50,000 security and military personnel had been trained in countries including Niger and Mali.

"It has not helped to consolidate the armed forces in their ability to support democratically elected governments," he said.

The European Union is still reeling after Niger became the latest partner in the region to sustain a military coup when President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted in July.

It was the third armed seizure of power in the Sahel in recent years, following putsches in the neighbouring former French colonies of Mali and Burkina Faso.

Borrell said he did not see a "bright future" for a civilian training mission working with Niger's interior security forces.

Another mission launched earlier this year to bolster the capacity of the Niger military will now probably not go ahead, he added.

The EU has already had to scale back its training mission in Mali after the junta that took power there in 2021 brought in mercenaries from Russia's Wagner group.

Borrell said there might have been too much of an EU focus on building up militaries and not enough work done with societies in the fragile region.

"Should we revise our Sahel policy? Well, yes, it's absolutely right that we should have a more strategic approach and less tactical approach," Borrell said.