ECHO Director to visit the Great Lakes region of Africa

Costanza Adinolfi, the Director of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), begins a six-day visit to Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi on 24 June. Her first stop will be Nairobi, where ECHO's regional office covering the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa is located. Other humanitarian organizations providing support for victims of crises in neighboring countries also have a regional base in the Kenyan capital and, during her stay, Mrs. Adinolfi will meet with representatives of these agencies and other major donors operating in the Great Lakes region. In Tanzania, which hosts large numbers of refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), her itinerary includes visits to refugee camps from where some repatriation to Burundi is now taking place. In Burundi she will inspect ECHO-funded projects for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the local population. She will also meet government and UN officials, and representatives of organizations acting as ECHO's implementing partners.

Since 1993, Burundi's internal conflict has claimed at least 250,000 lives and the country has also suffered the effects of fighting in neighboring countries. Almost half a million Burundians are internally displaced and about the same number are living as refugees in Tanzania. Despite the Arusha Peace Agreement of August 2000, and the establishment, seven months ago, of a transitional power-sharing government in Burundi, peace and reconciliation have proved elusive. Moreover, despite the agreement signed in Lusaka in 1999 and the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, refugees from the DRC continue to arrive in Tanzania.

The European Commission has a long-standing commitment to humanitarian intervention in the region, having funded projects since 1994. In 2001, ECHO provided €32 million for the refugee care and maintenance programme in Tanzania, and €20 million for relief activities inside Burundi. A further €27 million has been allocated for operations in Tanzania during 2002 while an extra €17.5 million has been earmarked to assist vulnerable people in Burundi.

| Arriba |

• EU Presidency Statement - Security Council on the Great Lakes (14/5/2002)
• Aide humanitaire pour la paix dans la Région des Grands Lacs  (12/4/2002)