The World Bank has announced $1 billion in new development funding for the crisis-wracked Great Lakes region, as it looks to tackle the underlying economic causes of the conflict.
The zero-interest cash is meant to support a peace deal signed in February by 11 countries in an effort to close a debilitating war that has claimed millions of lives and displaced even more.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim Wednesday said that reducing poverty would help increase security for the central African region that has, for long, been caught in the crossfire between marauding militias and rival armies.
"This funding will help revitalise economic development, create jobs, and improve the lives of people who have suffered for far too long," he said in a statement.
"Now the leaders of the Great Lakes region, by restarting economic activity and improving livelihoods in border areas, can boost confidence, build economies, and give new opportunities for millions of people."
Dr Kim is travelling with UN boss Ban Ki-moon at the head of a high-profile delegation on a three-day tour to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda.
The pledged funding is targeted at projects in energy, health, education, trade and infrastructure. Hydro-electric works were some of the biggest winners, with about half the amount set aside towards dams.
Displaced persons
Burundi’s 80MW Rusumo Falls project will get some $340 million while $150 million is marked for the Ruzizi line of dams, which will provide electricity for the three countries once complete, the statement said.
The region has largely been left behind economically by the rest of Africa, with little connectivity and trade worsening the problem of conflict.
"Together with much more electricity for the Great Lakes, there will be very large economic pay-offs if we can all help to make border crossings easier and faster for people and their goods to move from one country into another,” Mr Makhtar Diop, the World Bank’s Vice-President for Africa, said.
The cash will also help remove market barriers, helping lift agricultural output. Some $100 million has been set aside to support the rural livelihoods of refugees and internally displaced persons.
The troubled DRC provinces of North and South Kivu and Province Orientale will also benefit from $165 million, while $180 million will help improve infrastructure and border management at the volatile DRC-Rwanda border.
"There is a fresh chance to do more than just attend to the consequences of conflict," Ms Mary Robinson, the Special Envoy of the Great Lakes Region of Africa, said.
"There is a chance to resolve its underlying causes and to stop it for good. If this new attempt is to succeed where others have fallen short, there must be optimism and courage in place of cynicism," she said.
It was not immediately clear how soon the money would be released.
Courtesy: AFRICAREVIEW.com
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