Dutch development minister to evaluate peace processes

The Dutch minister for development cooperation, Agnes van Ardenne, is to visit the Great Lakes region of Africa from 20 to 22 October to discuss ongoing peace processes, the Foreign Affairs Ministry of The Netherlands announced on Wednesday. Van Ardenne is scheduled to arrive in Tanzania on Monday, and then to visit Rwanda from 20 to 21 October and Uganda from 21 to 22 October. "In talks with heads of government, ministers and representatives of civil society, she will confirm the Netherlands' commitment to the Great Lakes," the ministry said. "She will travel to northern Uganda to draw attention to the conflict that is raging there between the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government." It said van Ardenne would also take part in the ministerial meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a nine-nation east African organisation founded in 1986 to coordinate the fight against drought and desertification. But, like similar bodies elsewhere on the continent, IGAD has taken on the added role of mediator in regional disputes. The primary item on the agenda of the ministerial meeting will be the peace process in the Horn of Africa. "The peace processes in the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa are priorities for van Ardenne, as she indicated in her policy memorandum at the beginning of October," the Dutch ministry said. It said that van Ardenne’s trip was "a logical follow-up" to earlier visits to the regions: a mission to the Horn of Africa with Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in October 2002, and a tour of the Great Lakes region in mid-August. The ministry recalled that The Netherlands has had a long-term aid relationship with Rwanda and Uganda; while in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, it was involved in humanitarian aid, stabilisation, disarmament and the reintegration of combatants. In Burundi, the Netherlands also provided funding for the deployment of South African troops under the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, the ministry added. As for the Horn of Africa, the ministry recalled that The Netherlands had a long-term aid relationship with Ethiopia and Eritrea. It said it also played an active role in the peace process in Sudan and provided emergency aid to Somalia.