Dutch pledge US $100 million for regional aid fund

The Netherlands has pledged US $100 million to an international trust fund for the Great Lakes region in Africa, the Royal Netherlands Embassy in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, announced on Friday. The purpose of the Greater Great Lakes Regional Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme and Multi-Donor Trust Fund will be to promote disarmament and the return of soldiers and rebels to their homes. Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Eveline Herfkens announced the contribution in the course of the visit she made to the region last week together with British Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short and Norwegian Minister of International Development and Human Rights Hilde Frafjord Johnson. Other donors and international institutions have also pledged contributions to the fund, set up by the World Bank. "Help with disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration is needed to supplement the current political efforts and peace enforcement activities," noted a statement from the Dutch embassy. "The programmes to be financed under the new fund will also encourage the relevant governments and other conflicting parties to expedite the peace process in the region." The World Bank estimates that between 1.5 million and 3 million people have died in the Great Lakes region since 1997 as a result of conflict; some 200,000 of them were direct victims of the hostilities. The infrastructure of the countries involved, including the transport systems, has also suffered considerable damage from the perpetual fighting. The Netherlands' pledge of $100 million would make it the largest donor thus far to the fund, which designates countries affected by the conflict in the Great Lakes region as "including, but not limited to" Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. An initial contribution of $4.5 million for the Rwanda part of the programme is expected to be released shortly by The Netherlands. During their visit to the region, the ministers held talks with President Joseph Kabila of the DRC, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Vice-President Ndayizeye of Burundi, and Adolphe Onusumba, leader of the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) armed opposition movement. The purpose of the visit was to assist progress in the region and to discuss longer-term prospects for development and the use of the World Bank's new fund.