Dan Boyle
Ceist:101 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if it is the intention of the Government to give development assistance in Uganda solely to non-governmental organisations rather than to the Ugandan Government. [23799/03]
Adjournment Debate. - Overseas Development Aid.
The Government's programme of development assistance in Uganda is focused on poverty reduction and is having a very real impact on the lives of the poorest people in Uganda. Uganda has a very fine record in the area of poverty reduction. According to the World Bank, the number of people living in poverty has been reduced from 56% of the population in 1992 to 35% in 2000. No other country in Africa has achieved such dramatic development progress. No less importantly, Uganda has also led Africa in the fight against HIV-AIDS and is one of only two countries in the continent where the infection rates have fallen significantly. In addition, Uganda has introduced universal primary education and has doubled the number of children attending school.
Our programme provides support to Uganda through a mix of modalities, including through non – governmental organisations NGOs, and it is our intention to continue doing so. NGOs have an important role to play in the development process, including a clear role in the welfare and development area through their interaction with communities. However, while they are a significant part of the process, they cannot substitute for others, including government aid programmes. No one would argue, including virtually all NGOs, that they are capable of building or sustaining the national-level policies and programmes on which successful development rests. The view of all donors and of the UN is that there can be no development without government.
Support for the development of good governance is a key component of our Uganda programme, underpinning as it does the entire development partnership. It is based on a good governance strategy, involving a number of co-ordinated interventions across a range of governance areas including human rights, democratisation, and anti-corruption measures. In addition, our funds are protected by an overlapping series of accounting and audit controls which ensure that all our funds are fully accounted for and are spent as planned and on schedule.
The Government has been assured that all Ugandan troops have now been withdrawn from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Ugandan authorities have been extending full co-operation to the EU and UN peacekeeping operation in the DRC. In addition, the peace process in the DRC has made significant headway, with a transitional government now in place and in the process of establishing its authority, and all reports indicate that the situation there has considerably improved. The appeals and pressure applied to the Ugandan authorities by the donor countries with aid programmes in Uganda, including Ireland, have in my view been instrumental in contributing to this outcome. Our aid programme, and the government to government relationship which it involves, gives us an access to the Ugandan authorities and a leverage which we would not otherwise have. More recently Uganda, the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda pledged at a meeting at the UN on 26 September 2003 to respect one another's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence and refrain from interfering directly or indirectly in one anther's internal affairs. They also pledged to prevent direct or indirect support to armed groups operating in the eastern part of the DRC.