EU fund for Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) is in urgent need of assistance. Last year the country descended into chaos as a coup pitched it into months of violent unrest. Within the past few weeks a new transitional government has assumed power and a contingent of UN blue helmets has arrived.

The European Union has set up a trust fund to promote the stabilization and reconstruction of CAR. The fund has been christened Bekou, which means hope in Sango, the main language of the Central African Republic.

So far the European Commission, France, the Netherlands and Germany have paid a total of 64 million euros ($81 million) into the fund. The individual donor nations are paying into a joint fund so they can combine their resources and cut bureaucracy.

Under new financial rules, the Commission is authorized to set up and manage European trust funds under an agreement concluded with other donors.

The European Commission's Directorate-General for Development and Cooperation is also known by the rather less unwieldy title of EuropeAid and it is closely involved in the work of Bekou Fund. EuropeAid's director for Western and Central Africa, Pierre Amilhat, says that what is unique about the fund is that it enables "a swift response in a crisis situation."

After the donor countries and the European Commission set up the Bekou Fund in July 2014, it was agreed that the first three projects should be launched by the end of 2014. They include helping to make CAR's capital, Bangui, habitable once again. The sewers need maintenance and repair work has to be carried out on the city's markets. These schemes would not only help to give Bangui its infrastructure back - they would also create jobs.

Bangui is divided into eight urban districts."In particular, we want to help people in third and fourth districts because they were worst hit by the violence," Amilihat said. He added that many people had left the country because they were Muslims and the Bekou Fund wishes to include them in their projects.

Such projects would also include empowering women, which, in some cases, would involve teaching them to read and how to run a small business.

Another project focuses on restarting health care in CAR. At the moment people are completely dependent on international aid organizations for medical care. There are hardly any state health facilities and the manager of the Bekou Fund, Irchad Razaaly, wants to ensure that they are restored, even though this will take time.

"This project would aim to improve health care in many parts of Bangui and outside the capital as well. We would be providing drugs and medicine because they are in short supply and also difficult to distribute," he said.

Training course also planned for civil servants in the municipal authorities and in the health ministry in CAR.

There are also more distant plans to restore CAR education system. But first the donor countries want to encourage other fellow EU states to contribute to the Bekou Fund.