---

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Answer

EU members states and the European Commission are partners with DFID in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The European Commission is the second biggest donor in the DRC (€227 million in 2005) after the World Bank. France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany also have aid programmes in the DRC. The EC, France, Belgium, Germany and the UK are all developing new plans for development assistance to the DRC over the course of 2006. We are working together to try and ensure that our activities are complementary.Given the extent of humanitarian and development needs, the international community has given insufficient aid to the DRC. I wrote to Kofi Annan on 8 February welcoming the launch of the 2006 UN action plan for the DRC, which made clear the level of unmet need in the country, and asked donors to give $681 million in support of humanitarian programmes. The UK has pledged £60 million over two years to this plan, and encouraged European and other donors to contribute significant funds as well.In my letter to Kofi Annan, I also stressed the importance of meeting all needs, no matter where poor people are or the cause of their suffering. The east of the DRC, which has suffered most from the conflict, has traditionally benefited more from development and humanitarian assistance than other regions, but there are other areas of the country with equal or greater needs that also need support. The UN action plan seeks to address humanitarian needs across the country, irrespective of geographical location and cause. We are working with the UN, European and other counterparts to achieve this. There is also recognition among the donor community that urgent humanitarian and longer term development needs in the DRC should be addressed in parallel.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

53165; 443 c877-8W;443 c877-8W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Development aid Distribution Humanitarian aid EU aid Democratic Republic of the Congo

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk