EC to assist with poverty alleviation

The European Commission (EC) has adopted a Euro 86 million (US $84,6 million) financing programme to help Lesotho reduce poverty through sustainable economic and social development over the next six years. The programme would target the sectors of water supply, transport and communications. Attention would also be given to building capacity in the government's fight against HIV/AIDS, EC head in Lesotho Robert Collingwood told IRIN on Wednesday. Rural and urban populations would receive secured water supplies and the related needs for reticulation and wastewater treatment. Lesotho's transport infrastructure would be improved to further integrate rural areas, increase access to markets and social services and to provide short-term employment. The country's macro-economic reform programme would also be supported. The programme, which is set out in the African Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) Partnership Agreement of Cotonou, includes an additional Euro 24 million (US $23,6 million) emergency fund to cover unexpected developments. Projects will begin when the Cotonou Agreement, which is set to replace the Lomé Convention, which provided the structure for trade and cooperation between the ACP and the EC since 1975, comes into force. This was expected in January, Collingwood said. The programme would be a boost for the tiny landlocked country, whose primary resource is water which it sells to South Africa. The economy is largely based on subsistence and livestock agriculture, as well as remittances from miners employed in South Africa. However, with South Africa's mines scaling down or closing, remittances no longer provide as much support. This has contributed to food insecurity in the country. Up to 445,000 people are being targeted for aid in Lesotho following poor harvests. People currently receiving help are those over 65 who are not coping on their own, the sick and disabled, including people living with HIV/AIDS, and orphans and children. However, World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Resident Representative Viney Jain said the number of those in need was expected to rise to at least 800,000 in coming months. "Next week we are starting supplementary feeding for an additional 250,000 children," he said. However, like his colleagues in other southern African countries facing food shortages, Jain warned that relief food stocks were only at 54 percent of what they should be. "Our food is not going to last beyond January," Jain warned. Lesotho's next harvest begins in May and June. More details