Zone of Peace and Cooperation	Brief overview	Final Declaration	Plan of Action

An overview of the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic

Member States: Angola, Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Sao Tome e Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Uruguay.

Established by: UNGA Resolution 41/11 of 1986
In 1986 The General Assembly declared the Atlantic Ocean, in the region situated between Africa and South America, a “Zone of Peace and co-operation for the South Atlantic.”

Related UNGA documents: UNGA Resolutions 42/16; 43/23; 44/20; 45/36; 46/19; 47/74; 48/23; 49/26; 49/84; 50/18; 51/19; 52/14; 53/34; 54/35; 55/49; 56/7; 58/10

Ministerial declarations: Rio de Janeiro 1988; Abuja 1990; Brasilia 1994, Somerset West 1996; Buenos Aires 1998; Luanda 2007.

Participation

In 1988 when the first meeting of States of “The Zone” took place, the States of the Zone were twenty two. The South American countries participating were: Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The African countries were: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, Cote d’ Ivore, Zaire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Equatorial, Liberia, Nigeria, Sao Tome& Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

No major changes were made in terms of participation except for the joining of Namibia (1990) and South Africa (1994). The political situation on the stated countries was addressed in all documents including the Resolution 41/ 11 (1986) reaffirming the elimination of Apartheid and the attainment of self-determination and independence of the people of Namibia which were defined as “essential” for peace and security.

Contrast between the Geographical parameters of the South Atlantic and the Membership of the Zone

At the moment of creation, only five of the 21 African members of "the Zone" had South Atlantic coastlines. Four were part of continental Africa: Angola, Congo, Zaire, and Gabon. The fifth was an island São Tomé and Príncipe. The four continental states covered approximately only 34% of the total African South Atlantic coast. Angola holds a 66% of the coast of the continental African countries that integrated "The Zone" by that time.

The other sixteen members have only North Atlantic coast. Only one of them, Senegal had a democratic government at the moment the Declaration took place. Six of them have military Governments: Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, and Nigeria. Five of them were former UK colonies. All of them achieved independence before 1961 with the only exceptions of Guinea Bissau (1974) and Cape Verde (1975). The majority of them turned into a democracy between1992-2005.

With the incorporation of South Africa and Namibia “The Zone” covers a share of 45% of the total continental African Coast and a 66% of the total continental Africa South Atlantic Coast. Three countries Angola, Namibia & South Africa have an 88% of the Continental South Atlantic African Coasts. It would be said that “South” is not a geographical definition for the Zone members. It would be considered as indicative of the degree of development of the member countries, even though, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Morocco are not part of “The Zone”.

By the same token, there are European countries in possession of islands that geographically are in the South Atlantic (from Equator to parallel 60 South), these countries are the UK (through the group of islands of Ascension, St. Helena and Tristan de Cunha (mid-Atlantic islands) and Norway through its island Bouvet that is in parallel 54 South. Other islands are either in possession of South Africa (i.e. Gough Island) or are disputed territory as is the case of the Malvinas/Falklands, the Southern Georgias and the Southern Sandwich islands – the latter which already are in parallel 60South and therefore covered by the Antarctic Treaty countries and not the Zone countries. Clearly it has been a political decision of the initiators of the Zone Group to exclude European states from their discussions. This probably had to do more with the ongoing territorial dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom, as well as Cold War dynamics of NATO in the 1980s.

Note: As regards the very generous definition of South Atlantic which covers the huge membership of African Atlantic countries (but not South Atlantic countries), geographically one could try to extend those territories in the Gulf of Guinea Southwards through the application of the 200 mile Law of the Sea principle where all countries can claim an economic primacy over their 200 mile ocean line for the exploration and exploitation of resources although the Law of the Sea by the same principle assigns total territorial sovereignty only over the first 12 miles from the coast for other purposes such as shipping but not so for fishing or exploitation of resources.

Purpose

After the end of the Cold War, and in more recent years, the Zone has become a forum of interest for its Member States to generate discussion and cooperation at the South-South level on a number of areas: Peace and Security, including Peace Keeping Operations, Post Conflict Reconstruction among others; Safety and Security: including police issues on drugs, arms and human trafficking, and maritime safety among others and; Natural Resources and Environment: including the exploitation of natural resources, maritime pollution.

The Zone also intends to approach other stakeholders from the different Member States to participate in the forum representing the business sector and civil society: commerce chambers, businessmen, civil society, cultural and Diaspora organizations, etc.

The Luanda Initiative and the revitalisation of the Zone

The Luanda Initiative was launched by the Angolan government in November 2006 as a strategy to revitalise the Zone, which had not meet at the Ministerial level since 1998. This process included three preparatory workshops on the three different areas of interest of the Member States to prepare a Ministerial Declaration and a Plan of Action, which was signed by representatives of all Member States during the Luanda Ministerial Meeting in June 2007.

As part of the revitalisation and to effectively implement on the ground the Plan of Action approved by the Ministers, the Member States will meet in November 2007 to approve the road map for the implementation of the Luanda Plan of Action.

Government and Civil Society partnership

The process leading to the Luanda Ministerial Meeting and the approval of the Ministerial Declaration and the Plan of Action was the result of a partnership between the Government of Angola and SaferAfrica. At the request of the Government of Angola, and through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with SaferAfrica, all issues related to the secretariat of the process were handled by SaferAfrica in close consultations with Angola and other member of the Troika.

As a result of the success of the preparatory process SaferAfrica has been requested by the government of Angola to continue the technical assistance to the implementation of the Plan of Action and a new MoU is being signed by the two parties on this regard.

The future chair of the Zone, the government of Uruguay, has already signed a MoU with SaferAfrica for assistance to the Uruguayan chair (starting in March 2009).

The good perception by all Member States of SaferAfrica’s work has raised calls for a more active participation of civil society in this forum.

Governance of the process

The Troika: The Zone is chaired by one Member State, which is in charge of the preparation of the Ministerial Meeting and the implementation of its final declarations and plans of action. The chair is assisted by two other Member States in the troika, which assists the chair to fulfil its role. The troika is formed by the current Chair, the previous Chair of the Zone, and the future Chair.

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