New appeal for post-floods reconstruction

Mozambique is to ask donor governments meeting in Rome next week for US $450 million to assist with reconstruction following devastating floods brought on by two cyclones in February and
March which claimed 650 lives and left more than half a million people homeless.

The International Reconstruction Conference for Mozambique is to be held in Rome on 3-4 May. In a statement on Thursday, UNDP said the funding is intended to help restore and improve education, health care, infrastructure and agriculture as well as revitalize the private sector.

President Joaquim Chissano has appealed for continued support to "secure a better future for the thousands of children, women and elders who still do not have a roof over their heads."

Participants in the conference will include representatives of donor governments, UN agencies, development banks, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, and neighbouring countries. The conference is organized by the Governments of Italy and Mozambique and supported by the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Mark Malloch Brown,
Administrator of UNDP and Leonardo Simao, the Foreign Minister of
Mozambique, will co-chair the meeting.

"The reconstruction challenge facing Mozambique in the aftermath of this year's flooding is the biggest since the end of the civil war," said UNDP Resident Representative in Mozambique, Emmanuel Dierckx de Casterle.

UNDP said resettlement of more than half a million people was one of the most immediate tasks facing the country.

"The objective is to resettle people to safe areas, provide temporary shelter and facilitate the building of permanent housing," it said. "In the short term, this means providing the displaced population with land and access to basic infrastructure. In the longer term, the goal is to provide
housing and a full range of public services."