World Bank urges political progress

While the opportunity to attain peace in the Great Lakes region remains, the process of economic reform is still "very fragile", a follow-up technical meeting of the donors to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) concluded on Thursday. The Brussels conference, organised by the World Bank and co-chaired by Belgium and Canada, commended the Kinshasa government for its efforts at economic reform. However, the delegates reminded the government that real progress would be judged within the larger frame of the search for peace in the war-ravaged country. They appealed to all the Congolese parties "to progress resolutely" with the planned inter-Congolese dialogue. Despite the "urgency of the situation" in the DRC, the donors said, the World Bank was not planning a pledging conference anytime soon. Instead, it would reconvene a programme review and resource mobilisation meeting in March 2002. "If the interim reinforced programme of the DRC government remains satisfactory, and if the political environment is favourable to growth and economic stability, a three-year programme could be implemented," Jean Clement, deputy director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), told reporters. This would, he added, mean a normalisation of the relations between DRC and the international financial institutions. "We are very satisfied," Matungulu Mbuyamu, DRC finance and economy minister, added. "Technically, we are supported without any reservation by the World Bank and the IMF, and financially, we have already benefited from very important disbursements." These Bretton Woods institutions and the African Development Bank also presented a plan for the settlement of Congo's estimated US $12.9 billion external debt. This, the World Bank said, included arrears to multilateral creditors, 73 percent of which was overdue. In particular, Congo needs to settle its arrears to the African bank, and the Paris Club of creditors. The World Bank said 21 percent of Congo's debt was owed to the UN, 11 percent to France and the World Bank, and 9 percent to Belgium. In a closed-door meeting, also in Brussels, on Wednesday, donors ended consultations on a planned "Greater Great Lakes Regional Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme and Multidonor Fund", which may include the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. They discussed the opportunities to support the consolidation of peace in the region through a comprehensive framework for disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of irregular fighters. The World Bank director for the DRC, Emmanuel Mbi, said the donors had discussed the possibility of allocating $400 million to the Trust Fund, including $150 million by the World Bank and $100 million by other donors, "who don't want to be identified at this stage". However, the donors said the success of any regional initiative "would be contingent on the demonstrated political will of the parties to the conflict". The Force Commander for the UN Mission in the DRC, General Mountaga Diallo, was present at Wednesday's meeting, prepared by the World Bank in collaboration with the UN Development Programme.