Held on 18-19 March 2019, near the end of the EUNPACK project, the Final Conference provided an opportunity to look back at three years of research and fieldwork and to consider the policy implications of the findings. The conference provided an opportunity for EUNPACK researchers to share insights and discuss findings with relevant policymakers, other scholars as well as representatives from civil society. Project co-ordinator Morten Bøås (NUPI) opened the event, presenting key findings from the three years of research.

The EU seeks a more prominent role in peace and security worldwide. One means is smaller-scale peace operations – three of which are in Afghanistan, Iraq and Mali. Our research suggests that despite good intentions, results are mixed. These are five paradoxes that hinder greater impact on the ground.

The EU’s crisis response

Picture: Head of EU Advisory Mission Dr. Markus Ritter meets Deputy Governor of Anbar, Chief of Police, and other key officials in Anbar Province. Source: EEAS

From left to right, Ulf Sverdrup (Director of NUPI), Kari Osland (Senior Researcher and Head of Research Group on Peace, Conflict, and Development, NUPI), Ivan Krastev (Chairman at the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna), Pernille Rieker (Research Professor, NUPI), and Morten Bøås (Research Professor at NUPI and Project Leader of EUNPACK). Photograph: NUPI

On 20 November, members of our EUNPACK team visited the EU Training Mission’s (EUTM) headquarters in Bamako for a second time. Here we met with Brigadier General Peter Mirow, newly appointed Mission Force Commander for the EUTM, as well as political advisor Marlène Dupouy and the executive officer (XO) of the headquarters. While we in the first visit in 2017 gathered data, this time around we presented some of the key findings from the project.

This year’s Belgrade Security Forum started on 17 October with a full day of debates organised as part of the Horizon 2020 ‘EUNPACK’ project. The BSF, in its eight edition, is the leading international affairs conference in the Western Balkans and was attended by hundreds of policymakers, diplomats, businesspeople, civil society representatives and academics from more than 30 countries.

On 23-24 October 2018, researchers from the EUNPACK project attended the Middle East Research Institute (MERI) Forum 2018: ‘Visions for Stabilizing the Middle East’ in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq.   EUNPACK co-hosted a panel titled ‘EU in the Middle East: Responsive State-building to Prevent Violent Extremism’. The panel consisted of chair Morten Bøås (NUPI), Kamaran Palani Mohammed (MERI), Tine Gade (NUPI), Steven Blockmans (CEPS), and Roman Blecua (EU Ambassador to Iraq).

It is with much sadness that we received the news that our friend and colleague Ambroise Dakouo was killed in a traffic accident  this morning near the town of Segou in Mali. Ambroise had contributed greatly to our EUNPACK project and we had come to know him as a very professional, dedicated and talented researcher. His untimely death is clearly a loss to us all. Or thoughts in this difficult period goes to Ambroise's family and loved ones. 
 

http://news.abamako.com/h/199479.html

Picture: one of the demonstrations in 2011 that toppled the Gaddafi regime. Source: Wikipedia