§ John Barrett:To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of UK aid levels in Burundi following the report of the UN Economic and Social delegation indicating that peace has been restored. [141367]
§ Hilary Benn:There have been encouraging developments in the peace process in Burundi, but it would be premature to say that peace has been fully restored. At the regional summit on Burundi which took place in Dar es Salaam on 16 November, the Burundi transitional government and the CNDD/FDD rebel group agreed to cease hostilities and share power pending national elections at the end of the transitional period in 2004. Efforts are continuing to persuade the remaining rebel group, the FNL, to cease hostilities and enter negotiations.
The UK is providing substantial aid support to Burundi. DFID assistance is likely to amount to some £7 million during the present financial year, comprising humanitarian assistance, and support to local peacebuilding programmes, government capacity building, and to the national HIV/AIDS programme. This does not include DFID's 5-year $25 million pledge to the Multi-Donor Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme for the Great Lakes Region, which will support Burundi's national Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme once it is under way. It also does not include the UK's contributions to the EC and other multilateral programmes in Burundi.
The UK is also contributing substantially to the African Union's peacebuilding force, the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB). So far this year we have contributed £3.9 million to help meet the equipment costs of the Mozambican contingent to AMIB, and have recently agreed a further contribution of £2 million to help meet AMIB's in-country costs.