Brussels, 05/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 5 February, during the second international follow-up meeting to the donors' conference that was held in Brussels last May, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Mali's Prime Minister Oumar Tatam Ly reviewed progress that has been achieved over the last few months.
Tatam Ly spoke of the “multi-form assistance” from the EU, which deals with “the challenge of humanitarian security and development” - assistance that is “precious, which enables us to organise making the people and assets on the territory secure in the best possible conditions [and which] enables economic recovery and the reconstruction of institutions”.
Van Rompuy stated that the security approach alone could not bring a sustainable solution. “The EU's cooperation aims to help Mali fully restore the presence of the state and public service across the whole territory”, he added, and he also encouraged the authorities of Mali to pursue “with determination their objective of restoring constitutional order, promoting the rule of law, and reaching lasting peace while establishing security across the whole territory”.
Of the €523 million pledged by the Commission at the donors' conference in Brussels on 15 May, nearly all has been committed and €238 million has been disbursed - particularly for direct support to the budget of the Malian state (€30 million paid in December 2013), support for the electoral process and support for the supply of basic social services to the people.
In addition, €12 million has been approved for support for the reform of the legal system, €32 for the resumption of work on 565km of road between Bamoko and Timbuktu, and €5 million for a conflict prevention programme.
For the 2014-2020 period, the EU will support Mali's efforts through the mobilisation of €615 million for reform of the state, food security, education and reconstruction of the road linking Gao and Kidal to Algeria.
Alongside this, the European External Action Service (EEAS) will hold a high-level conference on the Sahel on 6 February. The EEAS has stressed that lasting peace will not be achieved in Mali and the region if the root causes of the crisis in the region of the Sahara and the Sahel are not tackled - be it at local level (north of Mali, south of Libya) or at regional level. The aim of the conference is to help to make operational the international coordination platform for the Sahel, presided over by Mali. Van Rompuy said that the efforts made “to restore stability to Mali will be in vain if the threat moves and if other countries in the Sahel-Sahara region in the broad sense become the next victims of the crisis”.
The fourth EU-Africa summit will take place in Brussels on 3-4 April and will have the theme of investing for people, prosperity and peace. (EL/transl.fl)