Ireland denies aid cut

The Irish government has denied media reports stating that it cut humanitarian aid to Uganda this month, due to concerns about defence spending. "There have been no aid cuts," the Irish ambassador to Uganda, Mairtín Ó Fainín, told IRIN. He said his government had redirected €12.7 million worth of "budget support" to a Poverty Action Fund (PAF) which was "more secure and more focused". The PAF money would be firmly tied to health, education, water and rural roads development. However, he acknowledged that the switch was due to concerns about Uganda's increased defence expenditure in 2002, which came "at the expense of other areas of the budget". The Ugandan government increased its spending last year from 2.1 percent of GDP, to about 2.3 percent, to finance the ongoing war against the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group in the north of the country. Describing the move as "a breach of trust", Ó Fainín said the Ugandan government had previously agreed on a defence expenditure seal of 2.1 percent with its international donors. Ireland was redirecting its funding "to ensure that it [the funding] couldn't be interpreted as drifting into other areas," he said. Ireland donates about US $35 million per year to Uganda, most of which is used for project support, and is therefore directly controlled by the Irish government.