Newsletter – n°20 – March 2013

In other news

Almost 500 participants, high state representatives, representatives of local authorities and civil society from Mali and France gathered on 19 March 2013 at the Rhône Alpes Regional Council in Lyon, in order to discuss the future of Mali and especially of the role that local authorities can play in the country’s reconstruction.

Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, Minister for Territorial Administration, Decentralisation and Land Management of Mali, supported by Ousmane Sy, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic of Mali and figure of the decentralisation of the country, declared that “the end of the crisis will pass by decentralisation”.

Pascal Canfin, Minister of State in charge of development and Laurent Fabius, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, both confirmed the importance of a continuous commitment of French local authorities for their counterparts in Mali. Today, one in three local authorities in Mali has a partnership with a French local authority.

The external action of local authorities has a natural place in the framework of the French strategy in Mali. It is indeed one of the four pillars presented by the French ministers: resumption of the bilateral development aid (150 million euros), international mobilisation in view of the donors’ conference to be held mid-May in Brussels, relying on the diasporas and channel part of the aid through local authorities.

In this respect, Laurent Fabius announced the doubling of the Solidarity fund of French local authorities for Mali, initiated by Cités Unies France (CUF).

Besides the issue of aid financing, a series of more human aspects of the conflict were addressed during the two roundtables, and especially the need of establishing a dialogue process in view of reconciliation. Boubacar Bah, President of the Association of Mali Municipalities, declared that “this debate must start at local level”.  

Michel Delebarre, Mayor of Dunkerque and President of Cités Unies France underlined the fact that this day should not be considered an outcome, but a step on the way of mobilisation and recognition of the role of local authorities in a country in crisis.

Source: www.cites-unies-france.org.