Luanda AU–EU Summit: Somalia’s Perspective and a New Africa–Europe Deal

LUANDA, Angola — The AU–EU summit in Luanda on Nov. 24–25 marked 25 years of a formal partnership, and it delivered the familiar choreography: a joint declaration, carefully worded communiqués, promises to deepen cooperation on trade, climate, migration and security. For Somalia — confronting a stubborn insurgency, maritime insecurity and a pressing need for jobs — the measure of success is not rhetoric but whether Africa and Europe can strike a new, more equal bargain that translates summit language into action.

The theme, “Promoting Peace and Prosperity through Effective Multilateralism,” captured the ambition. So did calls, led by Angolan President João Lourenço in his role as AU chair, for fairer debt-restructuring tools and innovative financing. That push matters. Debt distress is not a technical sidebar; it is a brake on public investment and a driver of dependency. When governments are forced to service costly obligations, the hospitals, ports and schools that power development are the first casualties. Luanda’s nod to reforming the international financial architecture was overdue — and necessary.

From Mogadishu’s vantage point, the summit will be judged on three pillars: credible security partnerships; catalytic investment in the blue economy and youth; and a financing reset that acknowledges Africa’s vulnerabilities and ambitions.

Security: From hardware to state capacity

Somalia sits on the frontline of a regional threat matrix that stretches from inland insurgency to maritime risks along vital shipping lanes. In Luanda, the Somali delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama pressed a straightforward case: security cooperation must be predictable, sustained and aligned with Somali priorities.

That starts with moving beyond episodic military aid toward integrated state-building — strengthening courts, professionalizing police, improving border management and embedding inclusive political processes. A credible AU–EU security track should reinforce Somali sovereignty, not import off-the-shelf templates that have failed elsewhere. Maritime security fits here, too. Protecting Somalia’s territorial waters and trade routes is inseparable from building local command-and-control, coast guard capacity and justice systems that can prosecute piracy and illegal fishing.

Blue economy and youth: Coastal dividends, locally owned

Somalia’s coastline is an underleveraged asset. Fisheries, port logistics and adjacent value chains could generate jobs for a very young population that needs pathways into the economy. Too often, foreign capital in coastal states skews toward extractive projects with limited domestic linkages. The Luanda declaration’s pledges on trade, investment and clean energy will matter only if they back locally embedded ventures: modern ports connected to hinterland markets, cold-chain and processing for fisheries, and entrepreneurship programs that keep value onshore.

European capital can be catalytic if paired with African regulatory sovereignty and safeguards for coastal communities. The test of the AU–EU partnership will be whether investment flows arrive with transparency, fair risk-sharing and a commitment to build Somali firms and skills, not just throughput statistics.

Finance: From rescheduling to solidarity

Many African governments face the triple bind of debt burdens, climate shocks and security costs. For fragile states such as Somalia, punitive terms choke off fiscal space right when it is most needed. In Luanda, African leaders — echoed by the U.N. secretary-general — pushed for a reimagined global financial architecture. That means moving past bureaucratic rescheduling to real refinancing, concessional liquidity and instruments that reward reform and resilience.

The joint AU–EU declaration acknowledged the need. Now the question is delivery. Without easier access to affordable capital, Somalia cannot upgrade infrastructure, invest in human capital or build institutions that make sovereignty meaningful. The credibility of the 25-year partnership hinges on whether finance is aligned with African plans and timed to actual development cycles, not donor calendars.

The politics of parity

Beneath the communiqués sits a persistent tension. European policy is shaped by immediate anxieties — from the war in Ukraine to migration politics — that can encourage a securitized, short-term approach to Africa. African leaders, meanwhile, are weary of conditionality and messaging that presumes to know what is best for them. A renewed bargain requires parity: African ownership of priorities, transparent European financing that tracks to those priorities, and mutual respect for sovereignty.

In practice, that means fewer top-down initiatives and more co-designed programs with measurable benchmarks and local accountability. It also means that Europe must accept more risk where the development payoff is clear, while African governments commit to robust procurement standards and anti-corruption safeguards.

From pledges to projects: What Somalia should press for

The Somali delegation — which included State Minister for Foreign Affairs and Ambassador Mohamed Sheikh Isack — used Luanda to highlight governance gains and to advocate deeper economic ties. The follow-through should be specific and time-bound. Somalia can reasonably seek:

• A maritime security package that enhances Somali command of its waters, integrates coast guard, judiciary and port security, and deters illegal fishing.
• Investment guarantees and blended finance to crowd responsible European capital into ports, fisheries and logistics, with local content requirements and workforce training.
• Access to concessional financing that expands fiscal space for infrastructure and human development without mortgaging the future.

These are not small asks. They require Europe to lean into long-horizon investments and share risk. They also require Somalia to deliver credible pipelines, ensure transparent tenders and invite independent oversight.

Accountability is the hinge

The durability of any AU–EU outcome will depend on monitoring and mutual accountability. The machinery set in motion after Luanda should embed clear baselines, public progress reports and a timetable for tangible results in countries like Somalia. Civil society and youth — who met alongside leaders in Luanda — deserve a structured role in oversight. Their scrutiny can help ensure that promises become projects, and that projects translate into livelihoods.

The bottom line

Luanda showed that multilateralism still has a pulse, but it also exposed an old divide: Africa seeks a partnership that expands self-determination and development; Europe wants stability and strategic alignment. Bridging that gap will take patience as well as ambition. From Mogadishu’s perspective, the imperative is stark: convert rhetoric into resources that build Somali capacity and sustain Somali agency. If the AU–EU partnership cannot do that, it risks being remembered in the Horn as another conference with polished words and few results.

Somalia’s diplomacy in Luanda was measured and forthright. The next chapter must be implementation. Real partnership is less about choreographing summits and more about sharing risk, ceding control where appropriate, and investing in institutions that make sovereignty tangible in people’s lives. Only then will the promises of Luanda ring true in Mogadishu — and beyond.

By Ali Musa

Axadle Times international–Monitoring.