Donors pledge US $330 million for regional fund

Approximately US $330 million was pledged for a five-year programme to finance the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of about 350,000 ex-combatants in the Greater Great Lakes region, the World Bank announced on Friday.

"Donors expressed a willingness to provide further contributions as regional peace processes advance and programme implementation progresses satisfactorily," a statement from the World Bank noted at the end of a meeting it hosted in Paris on a multi-country DDR programme for the Greater Great Lakes region (which encompasses Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Republic of Congo (ROC), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe), and an associated regional multi-donor trust fund (MDTF).

The purpose of the meeting was to review the joint regional DDR strategy and programme, mobilise resources for the regional MDTF and reach agreement on the next steps. The meeting followed two consultative meetings held earlier in Brussels (19 December 2001) and in Washington, DC (8 February 2002) "to develop a comprehensive DDR framework to enhance the prospects for stabilisation and recovery in the region", the World Bank reported. The meeting was chaired by Emmanuel Mbi, World Bank country director, South Central Africa and Great Lakes department.

It was attended by representatives from 13 donor countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States), eight regional governments (Angola, Burundi, CAR, DRC, Namibia, ROC, Rwanda and Uganda), and 12 international organisations (African Development Bank, the European Commission, the International Labour Organisation, the International Monetary Fund, the UN mission in the DRC, the UN Development Programme, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Children's Fund, the World Food Programme, and the World Bank).

Meanwhile, a meeting of senior government officials from the eight regional countries was held on 11 April to provide feedback on the regional DDR strategy, to share respective DDR challenges, and to discuss opportunities for future follow-up work at technical levels. The group agreed to meet again in three months' time.