A just-concluded donors’ conference for Mali yielded a mix of financial and in-kind pledges.
The bulk of the announced pledges, totalling $455 million, would support the African-led International Support Mission in Mali and fund the training of the Malian Defense and Security Forces — the main purpose of the meeting. The U.N. Security Council, in December, authorized the deployment of African forces in Mali to help the government regain control of its northern territory.
Donors that announced humanitarian aid on Tuesday, Jan. 29, include:
Canada: 13 million Canadian dollars ($12.9 million).
Australia: 5 million Australian dollars ($5.2 million).
Japan: $120 million (includes support for training of military forces in West African countries).
Germany said it is ready to resume development cooperation with the Malian government, “as soon as the security situation allows and the political conditions are in place.” Similar to other donors, it suspended development aid to the government following the military coup in March.
The humanitarian aid pledges were meant to provide for the needs of internally displaced Malians as well as Malian refugees in neighboring countries. To date, there is an estimated 230,000 IDPs in Mali and more than 150,000 Malian refugees in Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Algeria, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
The African Union, which convened the conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has yet to provide a full breakdown of pledges. In a communique, it said “all these different contributions are to be quantified.”
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