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Denmark has reduced aid to Burkina Faso over allegations of violations of a UN arms embargo against Sierra Leone and Angola, and what it called slow progress in investigations into the death of journalist Norbert Zongo.
Anna Hvidt, head of Western and Eastern Africa department at the Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry, said on Tuesday the reduction was because of the "two negative factors". From FCFA 20 billion (US $27 million) last year, the West African country will get FCFA 15.5 billion (US $21 million) in 2002.
Speaking in the capital Ouagadougou, the Danish official said Burkina Faso had done very little to control arms importation and use, following accusations by a UN weapons panel that the country had violated an embargo against the Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front rebel group, and UNITA rebels in Angola. An authority set up in 2001 to monitor arms importation and use had done nothing, she added.
Zongo publisher of a popular weekly "The Independent", was found murdered along with three companions in December 1998. He was then investigating the death in military custody of a driver to the President's brother. His death sparked socio-political unrest in the country.
The new Danish government, the official said, now sees respect for democracy, human rights and good governance by developing countries as a condition for financial assistance. Other countries that have suffered aid cuts for the same reasons are Eritrea, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
Denmark has been a main donor to Burkina Faso, especially in the provision of safe water, agriculture, rural development and energy. The aid cut, which Hvidt called "moderate", will affect the energy and the justice department reforms.
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