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| Speakers: | Howard Wolpe, residential Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region |
|---|---|
| Nils Tcheyan, Country Director, The World Bank | |
| Alfreda Brewer, DRC Desk Officer, USAID | |
| Elisabeth Tsehai, Coordinator, Corporate Council on Africa’s Congo Working Group |
April 9, 1998
Council on Foreign Relations
[Note: A transcript of this meeting is unavailable. The discussion is summarized below.]
The meeting featured a report on Burundi by Ambassador Howard Wolpe, Presidential Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region; and presentations on aid to and trade with the Democratic Republic of Congo by Nils Tcheyan, Country Director at The World Bank; Alfreda Brewer, DRC Desk Officer at USAID; and Elisabeth Tsehai, Coordinator of the Corporate Council on Africa’s Congo Working Group.
Burundi
One of the key questions to resolve before the peace talks resume in Arusha on 15 June is “Who is taking part, and who is not?” The talks have been billed as “all-party talks” and are important for three reasons:
The “internal process” launched by President Buyoya includes new provisions for power-sharing between the government and the National Assembly, and this initiative has provoked reactionary and sometimes confusing statements. CNDD suspended its leader, Nyangoma, and criticized the government’s plan as being a dishonest one - one intended to avoid the external mediation process under the leadership of President Nyerere. The interior FRODEBU opposition has overtly expressed support for and interest in the internal partnership, while the exiled FRODEBU faction in Dar es Salaam still refuses to recognize Buyoya as the official leader of the country. UPRONA is now staunchly divided between its non-parliamentary members, who oppose all mediations with opposition groups, and a faction led by former President Bagaza that opposes the internal power-sharing process but not the external one.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
At the last Friends of Congo meeting in December 1997 in Brussels, donors agreed on several key points:
The prospects for future aid to DRC are excellent, but the process is not quick or easy. One of the more promising aspects of aid to DRC is the catalytic effect that it will have on economic growth and capital formation. Donors recognize that prosperity and stability in DRC will greatly affect the region and the whole continent, and should move forward by incorporating flexibility with the current political realities.
USAID in DRC
In June of 1997, USAID conducted a three week analysis of DRC under the Kabila regime and decided to reengage after having left the country in 1994. Since mid-1997, USAID operations have been conducted out of three field offices located in Lubumbashi, Bukavu, and Kanaga. Each field office provides support to reconstruction and reconciliation activities in small communities, with the aim of alleviating bottlenecks between needs and lack of resources. The community-initiated process of identifying needs and proposing solutions has been an important result of this work.
A country representative arrived in mid-February 1998 to staff the Kinshasa office and coordinate the activities of the field offices. The total USAID budget for FY98 will be approximately $40 million, which includes a pledge of $10 million for the Trust Fund for Reconstruction. The country strategy for the next 2 to 3 years is to support projects in the areas of health, environment, private sector development, and democracy and governance.
Several congressional acts prohibit USAID from moving forward with direct bilateral assistance, although exceptions and waivers to these acts make the current and other proposed levels of support possible. The main congressional acts that hinder aid are:
Corporate Council on Africa
The Corporate Council on Africa, a membership organization of private-sector, for-profit companies, has three working groups on Africa: Nigeria, Algiers, and DRC. The DRC working group undertook a trade mission in March 1998, where they were addressed by Kabila and a few of his top aides. The mission stressed that while investment will take place in DRC, a higher quantity and more solid investment will occur if increased political security and adherence to rule of law effectively lower investors’ risk.
The working group noted that there is a lack of clarity with respect to contractual agreements, their enforcement, and fiscal corruption. On a negative note, Kabila suspended two national trade associations in late April.
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