Donors pledge 3.25bn euros in recovery aid to Mali: French president
Iran Press TV
Thu May 16, 2013 12:48AM GMT
International donors have pledged 3.25 billion euros in recovery aid to war-torn Mali, one of Africa's poorest countries, French President Francois Hollande says.
The pledge was made on Wednesday during an international donor conference in Brussels where more than 100 delegations from around the world gathered to discuss ways to help Mali recover from the conflict facing the West African country.
"More than 3.25 billion euros ($4.22 billion) have been mobilized at this conference," Hollande told the meeting, organized jointly by France and the European Union.
"We are showing that we can unify around a cause which concerns us all, Europe and Africa," he added.
Mali’s Acting President Dioncounda Traore also described the conference as successful, saying, "It went beyond what we could have hoped for.”
"We must not mistake the consequences for the cause," Traore stated.
France launched a war in Mali on January 11, 2013 under the pretext of halting the advance of rebel fighters in the country.
The French-led war in Mali has caused a serious humanitarian crisis in the northern areas of the country and has displaced thousands of people, who now live in deplorable conditions.
On February 1, Amnesty International said “serious human rights breaches” -- including the killing of children -- were occurring in the French war in Mali.
France’s Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian reaffirmed in April that the country would keep 1,000 troops in Mali even after the arrival of over 12,000 UN peacekeepers later this year.
Some political analysts believe that Mali’s abandoned natural resources, including gold and uranium reserves, could be one of the reasons behind the French war.
DB/MHB
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
