While both the European Union and France are suspending all financial and military aid to the West African country of Niger following the coup d'état last Wednesday, Belgium is not doing the same for the time being.
Like the EU, the Belgian Government condemns the coup in the West African country of Niger, said Federal Minister for Development Cooperation Caroline Gennez. Still, Belgium is not suspending all aid to the country with immediate effect.
"We support the local population in terms of development cooperation. Our projects are about education for girls, about sustainable agriculture, about health care, among other things," said Gennez on Flemish radio on Sunday morning
The money for these projects gets to the right people through Belgium's own development agency, she stressed. In practice, the Belgian aid is mainly supporting the population itself and not the regime.
Monitoring situation
That is the difference with countries like France, "which provide direct budgetary support to the regime," she explained, stressing that Belgian money cannot fall into the hands of the coup plotters. Investments go through Belgium's development agency and that is an "important security check." If that were to change, the aid would be reviewed.
This means that Belgium is not suspending the development aid, but will "try to monitor day by day how the situation evolves," Gennez said. "Depending on that, we will review or intensify our projects."
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Belgium also takes into account the security of its own people in Niger, which must remain "absolutely guaranteed," she said. "But we also look at whether we still have impact, because otherwise the projects no longer make sense."
Additionally, Belgium is also cooperating militarily with Niger. As recently as June, Gennez was in Niger to strengthen defence, diplomacy and development cooperation. Among other things, the Belgian army was planning to build barracks in the country. However, military cooperation is suspended, Gennez stressed
