President gets promises of aid during European tour

Congolese President Joseph Kabila ended a four-nation European tour on Wednesday with promises of debt cancellation, the training of his new unified army, police; and help with the organisation of multiparty elections at the end of a two-year transitional government of national unity. In France, where he began his visit, Kabila met potential French investors with whom he had a working lunch, Pascal Perenec, the French Embassy press attaché in Kinshasa, said. "This should soon be translated into some concrete action, but the investors are waiting for requisite legislation before they invest in the country," he said. Kabila also met French government officials who reiterated their desire to help the country through its transition to democracy. "President Jacques Chirac has, among other promises, cancelled Congo's €620 million [US $794 million] debt to France, if the transition process goes according to plan," Perenec said. French Cooperation Minister Pierre-Andre Wiltzer also announced €50 million ($64 million) in bilateral aid to the Congo. This grant will be disbursed over two years, Perenec said. In 2003, France cancelled a €1-billion ($1.28-billion) debt Congo owned it through the Paris Club. In London, Kabila received British assurances of $38 million in annual budgetary support that ends in March, Britain's ambassador to the DRC, Jim Atkinson, said. He said Britain had already channeled at least another $100 million in aid to the country through the World Bank. In addition, European Commission President Romano Prodi promised Kabila that he would accelerate the disbursement of €5 million ($6.4 million) promised to train Congo's new unified police force, Bernard Piette, head of information at the EC office in Kinshasa, said. A unit of this new police, made up of former belligerents, will be responsible for protecting institutions of the transitional government, replacing the 700 UN troops engaged in this task since the installation of the government in June 2003. France is also to provide 12 instructors to train the anti-riot police. Meanwhile, Belgium, the Congo's former colonial power, is to train the new unified army. In January, Brussels sent 190 military instructors to the eastern city of Kisangani, to begin training the Congo's first unified army brigade.