Contacts: In Washington: Rachel McColgan-Arnold rmccolgan@worldbank.org In Bujumbura: Marie-Claire Nzeyimana mnzeyimana@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, D.C. – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a $15 million International Development Association (IDA) grant to help the Government of Burundi facilitate peace building and to help preserve and restore human social capital, particularly related to conflict. Co-financing resources to further support the Project will be made available from a Bank-administered multi-donor trust fund established for the purposes of this Project. The Burundi Government will have access to retroactive financing for eligible expenditures up to a maximum of $4 million under the IDA grant. The objective of the Emergency Demobilization and Transitional Reintegration Project is to support the efforts of the Republic of Burundi to: (i) demobilize members of the National Liberation Forces and the National Liberation Forces - Dissidents, the two remaining non-statutory armed groups in the country; and (ii) provide socioeconomic reintegration support to these groups following demobilization, as well as to pending ex-combatants demobilized under the earlier Emergency Demobilization, Reinsertion, and Reintegration Project. Particular focus will be given to the provision of support to female, child, and disabled ex-combatants. According to John M. McIntire, Country Director for Burundi, “This Project is of high priority to sustainable peace and stability of Burundi and, therefore, to improved security in the Great Lakes region. It will promote sustainable reintegration of ex-combatants in their communities of return through the development of synergies with ongoing and planned wider recovery and development initiatives, such as community-driven development, agriculture, and public works projects supported by the World Bank”. “Continued support for Demobilization and Reintegration in Burundi is an urgent strategic priority in light of: (i) the recent closing of the Burundi chapter of the MDRP, which provided support for the demobilization of nearly 30,000 militia forces and the demobilization, reinsertion, and reintegration of an additional 27,000 combatants on December 31, 2008, and (ii) the need for the Government of Burundi to demobilize ex-combatants from the last rebel group (the National Liberation Forces) following the successful conclusion of peace negotiations and transformation of this group into a political party”, said Marcelo Jorge Fabre, World Bank Task Team Leader of the Project. The project has four components: Demobilization, Reinsertion support, Transitional socio-economic reintegration support and Support to vulnerable groups. Expected outcomes include: (i) the receipt, by approximately 1,500 ex-combatants from previous projects, of the remainder of their transitional socio-economic reintegration support; (ii) the receipt and completion, by approximately 1,500 physically disabled ex-combatants already demobilized, of rehabilitation and prosthetic support; (iii) the demobilization of up to 5,000 combatants from the FNL and 1,564 FNL-D, who will receive reinsertion payments and transitional socio-economic reintegration support; and (iv) assistance targeting all children associated with the FNL and FNL-D who have been separated from those groups involving reuniting them with their families, or being placed in alternative care, and receiving full reinsertion and reintegration support as appropriate to their status as minors. This includes the completion of reinsertion and reintegration support to approximately 250 children from the previous project. |
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