From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:MOZAMBIQUE: DONORS' BILL PEGGED AT TWO BILLION DOLLARS
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 02:56:00 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Europe, western
Title: MOZAMBIQUE: DONORS' BILL PEGGED AT TWO BILLION DOLLARS


an inter press service feature

by basilio langa

maputo, dec 7 (ips) -- mozambican authorities will be asking for
additional aid of close to two billion dollars during two
crucial meetings with donors in europe over the following eight
days.

government proposals made available to ips ahead of the
meetings with donors in paris and rome, show that maputo will be
seeking  195,442 million dollars in pledges for emergency food
and other assistance to be channelled to the productive sector
in the 1993/4 financial year.

officials said these projections were compiled with the
assistance of the united nations.

the aid will also meet the costs of preparing and conducting
the country's first multi-party elections scheduled for next
october.

''now that peace has come, they (donors) cannot cut
themselves off from problems the peace process throws up'', said
deputy cooperation minister oldemiro baloli echoing the
government optimism over increased international support
following mozambique's return to peace.

their first stop will be in the french capital tuesday at the
start of a two-day paris club donors' conference, hosted by the
world bank and international monetary fund.

a follow-up meeting, under the auspices of the italian
government in rome, is scheduled for december 15 and 16. rome
was key in brokering the long drawn mozambican peace talks.

the mozambican government wish list says that 500 million
will be required for emergency assistance within the national
reconstruction programme for the period from april next year and
may 1994.

an additional 194,942 million dollars will be required to
revamp agriculture, water supply, health, roads, education, and
institutional support.

part of the money will be used to repartriate thousands of
mozambicans currently refugees, most of them in neighbouring
states. (more/ips)


mozambique: donors' (2)

according to the proposal, ''priority in the health,
sanitation and education sectors must be provision of vital
medicines and vaccines, school materials and funds for wages, as
well as the reconstruction of basic infrastructures and the
extension of essential service of the whole country''.

''the health situation in mozambique is currently
characterized by high levels of malnutrition and serious risk of
communicable deseases, especially cholera and measles. severe
malnutrition, both acute and chronic, affecting adults as well
as children, and aneamia are widespread'', says the report.

the paris meeting is expected to review mozambique's economic
reform programme launched in 1987 to steer the former marxist
economy towards the market.

mozambique, rated by the united nations among the world's
poorest nations, was last week given the third installment of a
three-year, 140 million-dollar loan by the imf for its economic
reform programme.

fund officials have already credited maputo with ''reversing
economic decline and... improving key areas of economic
management''.

after growth of 2.7 percent in 1991, the economy is projected
to contract by 1.4 percent this year due to continued fighting
and the drought. food shortages had contributed to a hike in the
inflation rate to an estimated 50 percent.

the government estiamtes that some 3, 557, 000 tonnes of
emergency food aid are needed to feed 3,681,000 starving out of
mozambique's estimated 15.6 million people.

others in need of drought relief include those displaced by
the fighting and some half a million in rebel held areas and an
additional 300,000 refugees in neighbouring sates due for
repatriation by next may.

in its proposal, the government argues that despite signs the
drought is letting up, the effects of the disaster will still be
felt for some time and the country now faces the enormous
challenge of guaranteeing peopel's survival until the next
harvest.

''new possibilities and needs have emerged which require
different strategies and aproaches to respond to the immediate
and medium term requirements of the displaced and affected
populations'', the proposal says.

''with the exception of a few isolated incidents, an
effective cease-fire has been maintained throughout the country.
road access is no longer conditioned by security
considerations'', it adds.

the government considers that the end of the war has removed
obstacle to external support which were limited by security
reasons, and calls on the international community to contribute
in resolving the problems emerging with peace.
(end/ips/bl/fc/92)
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