Dr. Antje Herrberg

Special Advisor Peace and Stabilisation
EU Delegation Kinshasa 

April 2022 to December 2022

 

Previous stations

• Practically and academically active in various areas of international peace mediation for 18 years, including substantial support for over 20 peace processes Member of the UN Standby Team of Senior Mediation Advisers in 2013
• Leading roles in specialized NGOs such as Crisis Management Initiative, Interpeace, or mediatEUr e.V. (now Conciliation Resources), which I founded
• First secondment as ZIF expert in 2018: to the European External Action Service as Senior Mediation Advisor - with a broad thematic and geographical focus 
   

In my position as Special Advisor Peace and Stabilization

it was my task to coordinate and develop the integrated approach to peace and security for the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. To this end, I was seconded to the EU delegation in the capital Kinshasa. A protracted, complex conflict has dominated this region for almost 30 years. As a result of the war of aggression in Ukraine, issues such as the extraction of raw materials, geopolitical strengthening of the EU in Africa and climate security are once again gaining in importance. An integrated EU approach that addresses the root causes together with member states and a regional Great Lakes Strategy are an important foundation for this. My work included the elaboration and elaborate coordination of this approach as well as the organization of a mission of 20 EU officials to the Congo to engage with government, international community and civil society actors on the ground.
The resulting political framework, the Political Framework for Crisis Assessment (PFCA), was agreed and adopted by the EU member states in September 2022. Following on from this, I drafted an options paper to support a multi-level peace process to accompany the East African Community's Nairobi Process. This was circulated in various EU bodies and will determine EU funding for the process. One month after my arrival in Kinshasa, I was entrusted with the chairmanship of the peace and security working group in the EU delegation. This gave me the opportunity to build more understanding and consensus in the international community in support of various initiatives and to jointly comment on government initiatives, including the national DDR strategy.
 

The biggest challenge for me in this secondment

was to be able to contribute my mediation expertise more concretely, especially at government level. This expertise was often not recognized in the same way as country- or local-specific experience, which is of course very important, but can also lead to a limited perspective. The tense security situation in the country and budget constraints also posed enormous challenges for site visits, which are an elementary part of my work, and also made my networking with local actors more difficult. Nevertheless, with the help of the German embassy, I was able to establish relevant contacts and, for example, an important dialogue with the national coordinator of the GDR programme followed, which subsequently set the tone for a holistic, decentralized programme.
 

My greatest success

Every assignment is a wonderful learning experience. I am pleased to have contributed significantly to the integrated strategy on Eastern Congo. This is linked to greater visibility for the Congo in the EU and leads to further operationalization through a concrete proposal to support the Nairobi peace process. The political dialog on peace and security with 20 EU officials and the Congolese government as well as my (unfortunately only) visit to eastern Congo were formative for me. In the interaction with the local actors, I particularly felt the relevance (as well as the limits) of my work.