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 Trois milliards de dollars pour l'AfghanistanLes grands pays donateurs ont promis lundi, � Tokyo, une aide de plus de 3 milliards de dollars pour la reconstruction de l'Afghanistan, d�vast� par 20 ans de guerre. Repr�sentant le pouvoir int�rimaire en place � Kaboul, Hamid Karza� s'est engag� en retour � former un gouvernement cr�dible pour s'attaquer � cette t�che titanesque, tout en soulignant l'urgence d'obtenir tr�s rapidement les fonds promis pour asseoir son autorit�.  Brussels rejects EU 'super council' ideaThe European Commission on Monday rejected any idea of consolidating the power of the European Union's three biggest member states in a body akin to the United Nations Security Council.  Les exigences financi�res de Giscard exasp�rent BruxellesUne indemnit� �gale � celle du pr�sident de la Commission, des locaux et une large �quipe de collaborateurs : � peine nomm� � la t�te de la Convention charg�e de la r�forme de l'Europe, VGE veut imposer son statut Bruselas descarta la idea brit�nica de crear un Directorio con Par�s y Berl�nLa Comisi�n Europea descalific� ayer la idea -redactada en ingl�s- de crear un directorio en la UE para que Francia, Alemania y el Reino Unido manden m�s y organicen el trabajo a los dem�s. �No hay unos Estados m�s iguales que otros�, ironiz�. M�s at�nito qued� el secretario de Estado para la UE, Ram�n de Miguel, que no cree que exista tal plan: �Me parecer�a una broma de mal gusto�, dijo.  La UE sustituir� las presidencias semestrales por una direcci�n conjuntaUn grupo de tres o cuatro pa�ses presidir� la Uni�n durante periodos de tres a�os  La UE exige a EEUU que respete los derechos b�sicos de los talibanes El responsable de Pol�tica Exterior de la Uni�n Europea (UE), Javier Solana, pidi� ayer que se aplique la Convenci�n de Ginebra a los presos de Al Qaida encarcelados en la base de Guant�namo (Cuba). "El hecho de que haya habido atentados terroristas, por graves que sean, no nos puede hacer cambiar nuestros valores", afirm� Solana en Sig�enza (Guadalajara) tras asistir a la reuni�n de los directores pol�ticos del Comit� de Pol�tica y Seguridad de la UE. "Mantener nuestros principios es fundamental para la batalla definitiva contra el fanatismo y el terrorismo", a�adi�. La Comisi�n rechaza la idea brit�nica de crear un 'directorio' en Europa Argumenta que la sugerencia del Reino Unido �no se corresponde con la concepci�n del Tratado� - Supondr�a una supremac�a de Londres, Berl�n y Par�s  Guantanamo, accuse agli UsaGli Stati Uniti potrebbero avere violato la Convenzione di Ginevra, distribuendo fotografie dei prigionieri Taliban e di al Qaeda rinchiusi nella base di Guantanamo, a Cuba.  Donor Nations Vow Billions for Kabul In an emphatic response that underscored Afghanistan's newfound importance for an assortment of countries, near and far, international donors on Monday pledged nearly $4 billion over the next five years for the reconstruction of the country, which has been the center of the world's attention since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. . The pledges, made on the first day of a two-day conference of international donors here, clearly came close to meeting the announced goals of the World Bank and the United Nations, pleasing officials from those and other international development agencies. . What is more, after relatively strong opening bids by traditional international donors, such as the United States, Japan and the European Union, many more pledges poured in from a variety of countries not normally associated with international development aid. . On top of a combined sum of nearly $1.3 billion, which was pledged by the major Western donors plus Japan, Iran pledged $560 million, while two other neighbors and regional rivals, India and Pakistan, pledged $100 million each. . Saudi Arabia pledged $220 million, the United Arab Emirates $36 million and Kuwait, another $30 million. South Korea, another nontraditional donor, pledged $45 million for projects over the next two and a half years. . "We're thrilled," the Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Omar Samad, told reporters. "Every single dollar is appreciated. We're hoping that the international community doesn't just talk - that the international community delivers. And, on the Afghan side, we hope we deliver on the promises made by Mr. Karzai today." . This concern, first expressed by the interim Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, has hovered over the conference from the very start. Few, if any, Third World countries have ever attracted as much donor interest as Afghanistan, which is a testament to the sense of international urgency created by the terrorist attacks. . But the reality is that international donors have a spotty record in following through on public commitments. And the flood of promises made in a bewildering assortment of currencies and terms, many of them by newcomers to the aid game, will make follow-up all the more crucial. . Many of the speeches Monday morning hammered away at the importance of donors' meeting their commitments. There are other reasons besides history to worry about follow-through. . The conference host, Japan, to name but one country, is in the grips of an accelerating economic crisis that has plagued the country for more than a decade. . Japan has pledged $500 million to the Afghanistan reconstruction effort, including $250 million in the first year. But while Japan's record in meeting aid commitments is good, public support for international assistance is crumbling along with the country's finances. . Moments before the conference opened Monday morning, Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, met briefly with the Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, to urge Japan to take more resolute action to redress its economy. Later in the morning, the Bank of Japan governor, Masaru Hayami, warned of a deflationary spiral and said the economy was set to continue its decline. . The mounting anti-aid sentiment and worry over the future could be heard in the complaints of a housewife. . "Why do we have to donate money to Afghanistan while economy of your own country is collapsing?" asked Teruko Okamoto, in an interview. "The money will only be taken by top officials, as Karzai, and will never reach poor people." . "In Japan, stocks, national bonds, everything could be collapsing and we could be in worse condition than Afghans," the 61-year-old woman added. "I was eating potato vines when I was in elementary school. That kind of day could come back." . About two-thirds of Afghan adults are illiterate, half of the children are chronically malnourished and only about 6 percent of the population has electricity. . But the concern that donated funds will be stolen or wasted has been a major sub-theme of the Afghan aid drive. With no full-fledged government, little tradition of public service or accountability and near-universal poverty, illicit enrichment will undoubtedly be a powerful temptation for those with access to official money. . Officials and advisers to Afghanistan's interim administration are keenly aware of the risk of this sort of impression, or even worse, of such a reality, taking hold. . "We know ourselves that we have to have a transparency mechanism that will be credible," said Torek Faradi, a professor at California State University at Hayward who has become an economic adviser to the interim government. . "We are inviting in an outside auditor to see what we have done with the money," Mr. Faradi said. "It's also important for us to know how we spent the money." "Rebuilding Afghanistan will take 10-15 years," he added. "We want to demonstrate that the money goes to the right place. The pressure is really on. We have a lot of work to do." . For his part, Secretary Powell said he believed that Mr. Karzai would follow through on his pledge to hire auditors and assure that the funds were spent appropriately and not wasted. . "I take him at his word for the simple reason that he knows that if he doesn't do these sorts of things, then the second-year money won't be there, and maybe a lot of the first-year pledges won't be there, if they don't see a system of accountability," Secretary Powell said. . He added, "I think he understands the importance of doing this right, and we've got to help him make that happen." . Afghanistan will need $10 billion in the next five years, over and above any relief already pledged, the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, told the delegates. . He said the needs ranged from basic services, such as sanitation, clean water and roads, to a fairer justice system and "an end to the culture of violence against women." Conference's Goals Are Nearly Met TOKYO In an emphatic response that underscored Afghanistan's newfound importance for an assortment of countries, near and far, international donors on Monday pledged nearly $4 billion over the next five years for the reconstruction of the country, which has been the center of the world's attention since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States  Greens Select Fischer to Be Their Top CandidateTaking an unprecedented step, the executive council of Alliance 90/The Greens on Monday selected Joseph (Joschka) Fischer as its lead candidate for the upcoming national elections on Sept. 22. |
Titulares de periodicos La Libre http://www.lalibre.be/article.phtml?id=10&subid=83&art_id=49869: Trois milliards de dollars pour l'Afghanistan Les grands pays donateurs ont promis lundi, � Tokyo, une aide de plus de 3 milliards de dollars pour la reconstruction de l'Afghanistan, d�vast� par 20 ans de guerre. Repr�sentant le pouvoir int�rimaire en place � Kaboul, Hamid Karza� s'est engag� en retour � former un gouvernement cr�dible pour s'attaquer � cette t�che titanesque, tout en soulignant l'urgence d'obtenir tr�s rapidement les fonds promis pour asseoir son autorit�.
ABC http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT37JXHQQWC&live=true&tagid=ZZZAFZAVA0C&subheading=europe: Brussels rejects EU 'super council' idea The European Commission on Monday rejected any idea of consolidating the power of the European Union's three biggest member states in a body akin to the United Nations Security Council. Le Monde http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3214--259402-,00.html: Les exigences financi�res de Giscard exasp�rent Bruxelles Une indemnit� �gale � celle du pr�sident de la Commission, des locaux et une large �quipe de collaborateurs : � peine nomm� � la t�te de la Convention charg�e de la r�forme de l'Europe, VGE veut imposer son statut ABC http://www.abc.es/internacional/noticia.asp?id=73360&dia=Hoy: Bruselas descarta la idea brit�nica de crear un Directorio con Par�s y Berl�n La Comisi�n Europea descalific� ayer la idea -redactada en ingl�s- de crear un directorio en la UE para que Francia, Alemania y el Reino Unido manden m�s y organicen el trabajo a los dem�s. �No hay unos Estados m�s iguales que otros�, ironiz�. M�s at�nito qued� el secretario de Estado para la UE, Ram�n de Miguel, que no cree que exista tal plan: �Me parecer�a una broma de mal gusto�, dijo. El Pa�s http://www.elpais.es/articulo.html?d_date=20020122&xref=20020122elpepiint_1&type=Tes&anchor=elpepiint: La UE sustituir� las presidencias semestrales por una direcci�n conjunta Un grupo de tres o cuatro pa�ses presidir� la Uni�n durante periodos de tres a�os El Peri�dico http://www.elperiodico.com/EDICION/ED020122/CAS/CARP01/tex002.asp: La UE exige a EEUU que respete los derechos b�sicos de los talibanes El responsable de Pol�tica Exterior de la Uni�n Europea (UE), Javier Solana, pidi� ayer que se aplique la Convenci�n de Ginebra a los presos de Al Qaida encarcelados en la base de Guant�namo (Cuba). "El hecho de que haya habido atentados terroristas, por graves que sean, no nos puede hacer cambiar nuestros valores", afirm� Solana en Sig�enza (Guadalajara) tras asistir a la reuni�n de los directores pol�ticos del Comit� de Pol�tica y Seguridad de la UE. "Mantener nuestros principios es fundamental para la batalla definitiva contra el fanatismo y el terrorismo", a�adi�. ABC http://www.elmundo.es/2002/01/22/europa/1096094.html: La Comisi�n rechaza la idea brit�nica de crear un 'directorio' en Europa Argumenta que la sugerencia del Reino Unido �no se corresponde con la concepci�n del Tratado� - Supondr�a una supremac�a de Londres, Berl�n y Par�s La Repubblica http://www.repubblica.it/online/mondo/attaccodiciannove/foto/fotohtml: Guantanamo, accuse agli Usa Gli Stati Uniti potrebbero avere violato la Convenzione di Ginevra, distribuendo fotografie dei prigionieri Taliban e di al Qaeda rinchiusi nella base di Guantanamo, a Cuba. The International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/articles/45485.html: Donor Nations Vow Billions for Kabul In an emphatic response that underscored Afghanistan's newfound importance for an assortment of countries, near and far, international donors on Monday pledged nearly $4 billion over the next five years for the reconstruction of the country, which has been the center of the world's attention since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. . The pledges, made on the first day of a two-day conference of international donors here, clearly came close to meeting the announced goals of the World Bank and the United Nations, pleasing officials from those and other international development agencies. . What is more, after relatively strong opening bids by traditional international donors, such as the United States, Japan and the European Union, many more pledges poured in from a variety of countries not normally associated with international development aid. . On top of a combined sum of nearly $1.3 billion, which was pledged by the major Western donors plus Japan, Iran pledged $560 million, while two other neighbors and regional rivals, India and Pakistan, pledged $100 million each. . Saudi Arabia pledged $220 million, the United Arab Emirates $36 million and Kuwait, another $30 million. South Korea, another nontraditional donor, pledged $45 million for projects over the next two and a half years. . "We're thrilled," the Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Omar Samad, told reporters. "Every single dollar is appreciated. We're hoping that the international community doesn't just talk - that the international community delivers. And, on the Afghan side, we hope we deliver on the promises made by Mr. Karzai today." . This concern, first expressed by the interim Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, has hovered over the conference from the very start. Few, if any, Third World countries have ever attracted as much donor interest as Afghanistan, which is a testament to the sense of international urgency created by the terrorist attacks. . But the reality is that international donors have a spotty record in following through on public commitments. And the flood of promises made in a bewildering assortment of currencies and terms, many of them by newcomers to the aid game, will make follow-up all the more crucial. . Many of the speeches Monday morning hammered away at the importance of donors' meeting their commitments. There are other reasons besides history to worry about follow-through. . The conference host, Japan, to name but one country, is in the grips of an accelerating economic crisis that has plagued the country for more than a decade. . Japan has pledged $500 million to the Afghanistan reconstruction effort, including $250 million in the first year. But while Japan's record in meeting aid commitments is good, public support for international assistance is crumbling along with the country's finances. . Moments before the conference opened Monday morning, Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, met briefly with the Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, to urge Japan to take more resolute action to redress its economy. Later in the morning, the Bank of Japan governor, Masaru Hayami, warned of a deflationary spiral and said the economy was set to continue its decline. . The mounting anti-aid sentiment and worry over the future could be heard in the complaints of a housewife. . "Why do we have to donate money to Afghanistan while economy of your own country is collapsing?" asked Teruko Okamoto, in an interview. "The money will only be taken by top officials, as Karzai, and will never reach poor people." . "In Japan, stocks, national bonds, everything could be collapsing and we could be in worse condition than Afghans," the 61-year-old woman added. "I was eating potato vines when I was in elementary school. That kind of day could come back." . About two-thirds of Afghan adults are illiterate, half of the children are chronically malnourished and only about 6 percent of the population has electricity. . But the concern that donated funds will be stolen or wasted has been a major sub-theme of the Afghan aid drive. With no full-fledged government, little tradition of public service or accountability and near-universal poverty, illicit enrichment will undoubtedly be a powerful temptation for those with access to official money. . Officials and advisers to Afghanistan's interim administration are keenly aware of the risk of this sort of impression, or even worse, of such a reality, taking hold. . "We know ourselves that we have to have a transparency mechanism that will be credible," said Torek Faradi, a professor at California State University at Hayward who has become an economic adviser to the interim government. . "We are inviting in an outside auditor to see what we have done with the money," Mr. Faradi said. "It's also important for us to know how we spent the money." "Rebuilding Afghanistan will take 10-15 years," he added. "We want to demonstrate that the money goes to the right place. The pressure is really on. We have a lot of work to do." . For his part, Secretary Powell said he believed that Mr. Karzai would follow through on his pledge to hire auditors and assure that the funds were spent appropriately and not wasted. . "I take him at his word for the simple reason that he knows that if he doesn't do these sorts of things, then the second-year money won't be there, and maybe a lot of the first-year pledges won't be there, if they don't see a system of accountability," Secretary Powell said. . He added, "I think he understands the importance of doing this right, and we've got to help him make that happen." . Afghanistan will need $10 billion in the next five years, over and above any relief already pledged, the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, told the delegates. . He said the needs ranged from basic services, such as sanitation, clean water and roads, to a fairer justice system and "an end to the culture of violence against women." Conference's Goals Are Nearly Met TOKYO In an emphatic response that underscored Afghanistan's newfound importance for an assortment of countries, near and far, international donors on Monday pledged nearly $4 billion over the next five years for the reconstruction of the country, which has been the center of the world's attention since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States Frankfurter Allgemeine http://www.faz.com/IN/INtemplates/eFAZ/docmain.asp?rub={B1311FCC-FBFB-11D2-B228-00105A9CAF88}&doc={BAEBA422-0130-4690-AE01-35E11796870C}: Greens Select Fischer to Be Their Top Candidate Taking an unprecedented step, the executive council of Alliance 90/The Greens on Monday selected Joseph (Joschka) Fischer as its lead candidate for the upcoming national elections on Sept. 22.
