13.02.2013 -
Berlin – Mali's parliament has complied with the demands of the international community and adopted a roadmap for the country's return to democracy. In response, the German government will resume its development cooperation with the Malian government in gradual stages.
Dirk Niebel said, "This roadmap is an important first step towards normalising the situation in Mali. I want to acknowledge the effort Mali's interim government has made to adopt the right priorities in such a difficult situation. It has committed itself to respecting human rights and the rule of law, and to engaging in dialogue with all of the country's population groups. That is why the Federal Government will now resume development cooperation with Mali's government one step at a time. Our aim in doing so is to give a boost to the powers in favour of democratic reform. Mali's government must now make an effort to implement the roadmap with all due speed. Moreover, I shall be watching to make sure that the basic principles of good governance are observed."
The BMZ's first step will be to implement a measure to improve small-scale irrigation. The project, costing a total of 33.7 million euros, is being being funded with the help of the European Commission, with the EU providing 27.7 million euros and Germany 6 million euros. Dirk Niebel commented, "The EU Commission and Germany will be making a substantial contribution towards food security for Mali's people and, thus, directly to the country's political stability. In the current crisis, this is obviously a priority concern for the people of Mali."
Mali has been a partner in German development cooperation since the early 1960s. For many years, the country made good progress and was regarded, until the coup in March 2012, as a model of democracy in Africa. The German government made its last commitment – an amount of 125 million euros – to Mali in 2009.
Following the coup in early 2012, all further development cooperation at inter-governmental level was suspended, in accordance with the recommendations made by the international donor community. The precondition for gradually resuming cooperation between the two governments was for the Malian interim government to present a detailed roadmap charting the country's return to constitutional order.
Dirk Niebel emphasised, "At no time did we leave the people of Mali to fend for themselves. Rather, we continued to implement measures that were of direct help to the people but did not involve government authorities, in particular measures relating to food security. It is our intention to resume full-scale development cooperation with Mali's government. Before this can happen, however, we need to see free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections take place."
