World Bank ready to help fund demobilisation

The World Bank is expected to release US $33 million to demobilise former fighters from both sides of Angola's devastating civil war and reintegrate them into their communities, a World Bank official said on Tuesday. The funds will form part of the Angolan Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme (ADRP), which will also get a $53 million lift from a multi-donor trust fund set up for demobilisation and reintegration activities in a total of nine African countries. Angola's 27-year conflict, which pitted rebel UNITA forces against the government army, FAA, ended in April 2002. Since then, the government and international organisations have stressed that disarming and resettling former soldiers is key to reducing poverty and improving security in peace-time. "It is crucial to consolidate peace and demobilisation, and reintegrate ex-combatants. This is one of the Bank's main focuses right now," Lisa Maier, World Bank operations assistant responsible for the ADRP, told IRIN. The aim of the programme is to demobilise and resettle 105,000 UNITA soldiers and 33,000 former government combatants. The government has already spent $187 million of its own funds to demobilise 100,000 former UNITA soldiers and the new funds from the ADRP will focus on reintegration, Maier said. "We are very satisfied that the government has already started to demobilise. It has taken the initiative, given that the money from the Bank and the multi-donor trust fund has not been disbursed yet," she noted. "So far, there has been no demobilisation of FAA, but we expect that to start soon." The main thrust of the programme will be to provide farming tools and training to former combatants returning to the provinces of Huambo, Huila, Bie, Benguela, Kwanza-Sul and Malanje. "The reintegration will be predominantly agricultural, for example, the delivering of seeds, tools, fertilisers, as well as training and technical assistance," Maier said. "The soldiers will also be involved in community work; involved in the reconstruction of essential infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, roads and bridges – all in their home communities," she added. The combatants will work alongside returning refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs), be given access to apprenticeships and on-the-job training in income-generating activities, and be taught about business management and micro-credit schemes. Apart from this economic reintegration, the ADRP will help soldiers to mingle socially by providing confidence-building training, information and counselling about HIV/AIDS and STDs, as well as conflict analysis and reconciliation activities. "These should kick off at the end of February," Maier said. The release of funds was delayed while the World Bank and the Angolan authorities completed a tender process to find an operator for the project's financial management. "World Bank projects have effectiveness conditions, and only when these conditions are met will the money flow. Because this is such a large-scale project, the World Bank needs a solid financial management procurement unit," Maier explained. The United States Agency for International Development also announced last week it would donate $54 million to bolster existing efforts to resettle and reintegrate thousands of ex-UNITA combatants. These funds, to be channelled through the NGO, Consortium of Development and Aid to Angola, are expected to assist some 150,000 families in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bie, Huila and Kwanza-Sul. In addition, the United Nations Development Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the International Labour Organisation have already begun an emergency special project which has invested $5 million in assistance and agricultural support to around 50,000 ex-soldiers.