For almost five years the Norwegian Embassy has been the point of contact between the NATO Headquarters in Brussels and the AU in Addis Ababa, except for strictly military issues which are handled by a separate NATO liaison office.
Significant NATO-AU cooperation
Ambassador Jens-Petter Kjemprud mentions logistical support by NATO Member States for AU peacekeeping missions in Sudan and Somalia as well as participation of AU personnel in NATO training programmes as important recent examples of NATO-AU cooperation. The Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa has been actively facilitating this contact. Minister Counsellor Rolf Ree at the Embassy is working closely with communication between the two multilateral organisations. NATO does not have any military presence “on the ground” in Africa but provides support for the AU.
High-level visits
The Embassy also organises NATO visits to the AU. In late 2008, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary-General Maurits Jochems spoke in the AU Peace and Security Council. “This was a clear sign of the positive relations between NATO and the AU,” notes NATO Ambassador Kjemprud. The AU Secretary-General and Head of the Peace and Security Department of AU have been visiting Brussels on several occasions. The NATO related work of the embassy is only in relation to the AU and is completely separate from its bilateral work towards Ethiopia.