France gives US $1.2 million to help rehabilitate police force

The French government has donated 700 million CFA francs (US $1.2 million) to help rehabilitate the police in the Republic of Congo (RoC), the government said on Tuesday. According to a statement issued in the capital, Brazzaville, the money would be put towards helping the police fight delinquency and criminality which "had not stopped growing since the end of hostilities in the Congo". It said the grant would be used to improve the professionalism of police investigative units. Congolese Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Rodolphe Adada was quoted as saying that the project was of "major significance" and that the state and quality of services after the war "left something to be desired". The Congo has suffered a cycle of civil wars over the past decade. A peace agreement on 17 March 2003 ended a year-long conflict between the government and "Ninja" rebels in the Pool Region which displaced thousands of people. According to the statement, an earlier donation by France helped rehabilitate the fire service in Brazzaville and in the port of Pointe-Noire.