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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Japan provides US $3.7 million for DDR

NAIROBI, 3 November 2003 (IRIN) - Japan agreed on Friday to provide 408 million yen (US $3.7 million) in support of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of Congolese ex-combatants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Japanese Foreign Ministry announced.

The funds are to be channelled through the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which, along with the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, MONUC, the UN Children's Programme (UNICEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, are largely responsible for the DDR programme.

According to UNDP, the grant will be used to finance three of its projects: Demobilisation and Reintegration of War-Wounded Combatants; Rapid Response Mechanism - a programme to enable the expedited deployment of financial and human resources to manage emergencies and contingencies of the DDR process in the field; and Community Recovery, Reintegration of Ex-Combatants, and Small Arms Reduction.

The two-year transitional government of the DRC has been requested by donors to present a national DDR strategy document outlining the main elements of a national DDR programme, to be presented during the next conference of the Multi-Country Demobilization and Reintegration Programme in the Greater Great Lakes Region [MDRP - www.mdrp.org], due to take place from 12 to 14 November in the capital, Kinshasa. To this end, the government has formed a technical coordination and planning committee, in collaboration with partners such as UNDP, MONUC, UNICEF, ILO and the World Bank.

"It is expected that the [projects] will promote the economic and social reintegration of ex-combatants into local communities, restore and keep order, and stabilize society in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," the Japanese Foreign Ministry stated.

Japan said this grant was part of its cooperation for Africa, announced at the Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development recently held in Tokyo. UNDP said that Japan's contribution was in response to the UN's consolidated appeal for 2003.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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