Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05THEHAGUE2446
2005-09-08 14:17:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy The Hague
Cable title:  

THE DUTCH IN AFRICA: SECURITY, AIDS AND WATER

Tags:  EAID PREL KHIV NL XA 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 002446 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR THE DEPUTY SECRETARY, S/CRS/TEPPER AND S/GAC
STATE ALSO FOR AF/FRAZER AND BITTRICK AND EUR/UBI/REITER
USEU FOR LERNER AND BRENNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PREL KHIV NL XA
SUBJECT: THE DUTCH IN AFRICA: SECURITY, AIDS AND WATER

REF: THE HAGUE 2241

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 002446

SIPDIS

STATE FOR THE DEPUTY SECRETARY, S/CRS/TEPPER AND S/GAC
STATE ALSO FOR AF/FRAZER AND BITTRICK AND EUR/UBI/REITER
USEU FOR LERNER AND BRENNER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PREL KHIV NL XA
SUBJECT: THE DUTCH IN AFRICA: SECURITY, AIDS AND WATER

REF: THE HAGUE 2241


1. Summary: The Dutch are among the world's most generous
aid donors, giving about 0.8 percent of GDP or $4.2 billion
in 2004. Roughly half of Dutch aid goes to 18 countries in
Africa, making the Netherlands the fourth largest donor of
bilateral aid to Africa. Dutch aid to Africa focuses on
health and environmental programs, including AIDS and water
projects where the U.S. and Netherlands cooperate closely.
Increasingly, the Dutch are also focusing on security sector
reform (SSR) and disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration (DDR) efforts in Sudan and the Great Lakes, for
which Development Minister Agnes van Ardenne has established
a $132 million fund. Van Ardenne will travel to Washington
twice in September, providing Department principals the
opportunity to discuss security sector assistance in Africa
and elsewhere. End Summary.

--------------
OVERVIEW
--------------


2. The Netherlands ranks among the world's top foreign
assistance donors, annually giving the equivalent of 0.8
percent of GDP (about $4.2 billion in 2004),a firm policy
target ratio. Last year the Netherlands was the fifth
largest donor country as a percentage of GDP and sixth in
dollar terms. Beginning in 2003, the Dutch initiated a new,
more focused aid policy, concentrating their bilateral
assistance on 36 partner countries, half of which are in
Africa. At roughly $2.1 billion, The Netherlands is the
fourth largest donor to Africa, and its programs there target
economic development, education, reproductive health
(including AIDS) and the environment.


3. Minister for Development Agnes van Ardenne will visit
Washington and New York in September for the UNGA development
assistance and World Bank/IMF conferences. Post understands
van Ardenne has requested meetings with the Deputy Secretary
and Assistant Secretary for Africa. Van Ardenne will likely
want to discuss Sudan, but it would also be an opportunity to
encourage the Dutch to do more on peacekeeping and
reconstruction in Africa.


4. Van Ardenne has pushed the bounds of traditional
development assistance by funding programs that aim to create

a secure environment in which development can proceed. The
development ministry has created a Stability Fund with a FY
2005 budget of 110 million Euros ($132 million) to fund
security sector reforms (SSR),and disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of former fighters in
the African Great Lakes and Horn of Africa, as well as the
Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. In January 2005 Defense
Minister Henk Kamp and van Ardenne announced the formation of
a joint Security Task Force (similar to State's Office of the
Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization),to
identify and prepare for failing and failed states. Van
Ardenne has also lobbied the OECD Development Assistance
Committee to broaden definitions of development assistance to
allow more SSR related programs to qualify as official
development assistance.


5. GONL security assistance efforts are focused in the Horn
of Africa and Great Lakes region, and in particular Sudan and
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

--------------
THE HORN OF AFRICA
--------------

Sudan
--------------

6. The Netherlands, along with the U.S., UK and Norway, was
among the earliest and most generous humanitarian aid donors
to Darfur. In 2004 the Dutch gave 49 million Euros ($61
million) to aid refugees in Sudan and Chad. This year the
GONL pledged another 49.5 million Euros for Darfur related
humanitarian assistance and has promised more, if needed.


7. At the April donor conference in Oslo, the Netherlands
pledged 175 million Euros ($217 million) over the next three
years to fund Sudanese reconstruction and support for the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Of this amount, 150
million Euros ($180 million) will go to the UN Multi-Donor
Trust Fund. The remaining 25 million Euros ($31 million) is
earmarked for SSR/DDR in southern Sudan.

8. In addition, the Dutch support the UN Sudan mission with
personnel, and the African Union (AU) Mission to the Sudan
(AMIS) with advisors, funds (14.3 million Euros or $34.3
million) and airlift for incoming AU troops. Three Dutch
military personnel are assigned to Addis Ababa as part of
NATO/EU missions in support of AMIS. Ministry of Defense and
Ministry of Development Assistance (MDA) staff traveled to
Sudan at the end of August to evaluate the possibility of
providing Dutch military observers to the UN mission. During
the NATO force generation conference in June 2005, the
Netherlands offered to airlift a South African AU battalion
to Darfur, to be coordinated by NATO in September 2005. The
Dutch are also considering additional tactical airlift, as
well as deployment of trainers in southern Sudan to work on
Sudan People,s Liberation Army transformation.

9. The GONL has reorganized and increased staffing for its
Sudan policy-making office. A new Sudan Task Force brings
together MDA and Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff with
responsibility for political affairs, SSR/DDR,
reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and donor coordination.
The task force will be led by Wim Wessels, Ambassador at
Large for Sudan, who will report directly to van Ardenne.

Ethiopia/Eritrea
--------------

10. The Dutch are working bilaterally and through the EU to
help solve the Ethiopia-Eritrea border crisis. The
Netherlands has made expansion of its bilateral aid to
Ethiopia and Eritrea conditional on improvements in human
rights and the honoring of border commission commitments.
The Dutch gave 19.5 million Euros ($23.4 million) in
bilateral assistance to Ethiopia in 2004 for good governance,
education, healthcare and rural development. For Eritrea
this year the Dutch have pledged 2.65 million Euros ($3.18
million) for human rights, regional stability, good
governance, education, economic development and
environment/water projects.


11. In 2003 the Dutch and U.S. signed an MOU to coordinate
their AIDS programs in Ethiopia and three other African
countries. The U.S. and Dutch missions focus on AIDS
prevention programs and work together on the Country
Coordinating Committee, which coordinates host country and
donor country activities.

--------------
THE GREAT LAKES
--------------


12. The Dutch are a leading supporter of the peace process
in the Great Lakes region. They, along with Canada, chair
and help fund the Friends of the Great Lakes, a group of
donor countries supporting a series of regional peace and
cooperation conferences. The Dutch financially support two
of six military integration centers that seek to reorganize
and re-outfit DRC armed forces. They have posted one military
advisor to the United Nations Mission and the EU police
mission in DRC. In Burundi, the Dutch have provided funding,
material and reintegration training for the military, and
contributed a military officer to the UN Operation in
Burundi.


13. Defense Minister Henk Kamp returned from a tour of Great
Lakes DDR programs earlier this year convinced as never
before that his ministry had a role to play in helping
stabilize post-crisis countries. During an August 9
conversation with emboffs, Kamp noted that the Dutch are
considering small scale deployments in Africa (reftel).
Regarding potential operations, Kamp stressed, however, that
the Dutch would seek to coordinate with a "greater power"
such as the UK or the U.S. (Note: This is not inconsistent
with Dutch military doctrine. Following the Netherlands,
experience in Srebrenica, the Parliament drew up a list of
conditions ) including partnering with a greater power )
that must be met before a military deployment can be
approved. End note.)


14. The Dutch also help coordinate the effort to bring peace
to northern Uganda. The Netherlands leads a contact group of
major donor countries, and has hosted strategy meetings on
the North in The Hague. Dutch officials, including Minister
van Ardenne, meet frequently with President Museveni.

--------------
ELSEWHERE IN AFRICA: AIDS AND WATER
--------------

AIDS
--------------

15. AIDS and water resources management are priority sectors
for Dutch assistance in Africa, and two areas in which the
U.S. and Netherlands have cooperated closely. In 2003
President Bush and Prime Minister Balkenende signed an MOU to
coordinate AIDS programs in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana and
Zambia. In these countries the U.S. and Dutch work together
to develop public-private partnerships for AIDS education,
prevention and treatment, care of orphans and vulnerable
children and strengthening national AIDS commissions. The
USAID-Dutch partnership with Heineken on an AIDS treatment
and education program in Rwanda has been particularly
successful, and has been noted as a model for future
partnerships.


16. In 2004 the Netherlands disbursed $375 million on
programs to fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Of this
sum, $97 million was distributed bilaterally; the rest was
channeled through NGOs and multinational organizations. In
2004 the GONL announced it would double its AIDS funding by
2007, with a continuing focus on African countries.
Currently, health sector funding features prominently in
Dutch assistance to Burkina Faso ($6.7 million),Ethiopia
($14.7 million) Ghana ($24 million),Mali ($11.2 million),
Mozambique ($2.7 million),Tanzania ($9.6 million),South
Africa ($1.8 million),and Zambia ($17.4 million).

Water
--------------

17. The Dutch are among the world's most knowledgeable and
generous donors to water development projects. As a policy
target, they give 0.1 percent of GDP (or about $500 million)
annually to water development programs.


18. For instance, they have assumed a leading role in the
Global Water Partnership (GWP),of which Crown Prince William
Alexander is an honorary patron. After consulting closely
with the U.S. in the GWP, the Dutch funded Integrated Water
Resource Management Plans in Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde,
Eritrea, Mozambique and Swaziland. The Netherlands plays a
leading role in international water conferences and capacity
building. The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education,
which provides advanced training in water resource management
for officials from developing countries, is based in the
Netherlands. The Dutch fund cross-border water management
programs in southern Africa and also participate in the Nile
River Basin Initiative. Among those countries receiving
Dutch funding for environment/water programs are: Benin
($4.8 million),Egypt ($6.8 million),Ghana, ($7.3 million),
Cape Verde ($3 million),Mali ($6.3 million),Mozambique
($3.9 million) and Senegal ($8.5 million).

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


19. Comment: Van Ardenne is the driving force behind her
government's increase in stability assistance to Africa. Her
upcoming visits to Washington and New York will provide an
opportunity for Department principals to discuss 1) support
for African peacekeeping troops and UN observer missions; 2)
judicial reform in post-crisis states; 3) joining advisory or
training operations in Africa and elsewhere; 4) participating
in reconstruction efforts outside their 36 partner countries,
such as Liberia or Haiti; 5) coordinating reconstruction
policy with us in discussions within NATO, the EU or the UN.
End Comment.

BLAKEMAN