Brussels, 15/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is to propose a first contribution of EUR 20 million to the Trust Fund established by the World Bank for a regional programme for the demobilisation, return home and reinsertion into professional life of the former fighters in the Greater Great Lakes Region. (Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, Central African Republic, Congo, Namibia, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Angola).
Poul Nielson, European Commissioner for Development Policy, made the above announcement on Friday, in Paris, during a fund raising meeting convened by the World Bank and attended by 13 donor countries, eight regional governments and 12 international organisations.
This financial contribution is a demonstration of the Commission's commitment to continue its support for seeking peace and stability in the region, stressed Poul Nielson. He specified, however, that "such objectives can only be achieved and implemented by the different parties themselves, in a spirit of enhanced dialogue and reconciliation".
Out of the $500 million considered necessary for financing the five-year programme to the benefit of some 350,000 former fighters, around 330 million were reached as the total of the pledges made during this meeting.
The contribution announced by the Commission will be in addition to the EUR 3.2 million already allocated by the Community to support the mediation efforts of Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana and facilitator in the region, as well as the organisation of Inter-Congolese dialogue currently under way in south Africa, to lay the foundations for democratic transition towards a lasting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and throughout the Great Lakes region.