Africa

February 19, 2016 (JUBA) – A senior official of the South Sudan's armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO), has accused troops loyal to President Salva Kiir' government of “inflicting maximum sufferings on the civilians” in various parts of the country in violation of the peace agreement signed five months ago.

South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar, second left, looks across after shaking hands with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, center-right wearing a black hat, after lengthy peace negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Monday, Aug. 17, 2015 (Photo AP/Mulugeta Ayene)

Speaking to reporters in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, on Thursday, Henry Odwar, who leads the SPLM-IO's team for constitutional amendment national committee as part of the advance team in Juba, said government forces are on offensive in Equatoria and Bahr el Ghazal regions.

“It is clear that the government forces are bent on inflicting maximum sufferings on the civilian populations in Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal,” Odwar told journalists in a press conference conducted by the SPLM-IO officials in Juba on Thursday.

Odwar, who rebelled from the government and joined the SPLM-IO after he was relieved from parliamentary seat in the national legislative assembly in 2014, currently serves as the chairman of national committee for energy and mining in the opposition faction.

He accused the government of continuing to attack locations of their forces in Wau, Maridi, Mundri, Mvolo, Ezo, Yambio, Wondurba, Lobonok, Northern Bari, Mwagi and Ikotos – counties located in Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions.

The opposition's advance team has been in Juba since 21 December, 2015, to try to finalize the demilitarization of Juba and deployment of their joint forces in the capital ahead of arrival of their leader, Machar.

President Salva Kiir appointed his former deputy Machar as first vice president last week. But the opposition leader said he will not return to Juba before the excess government forces are evacuated. Machar also wants his bodyguards of about 3,000 troops to be transported and stationed in Juba.

Odwar said the permanent ceasefire declared in August last year should have halted any further attacks on their locations nationwide.

“We request the government of South Sudan to stop its troops from inflicting unnecessary sufferings on a section of its people,” the press statement seen by Sudan Tribune reads in part.

“We want peace to prevail in South Sudan. We affirm our commitment to the agreement,” Odwar added.

The SPLM-IO further said peace guarantors from the East African regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), African Union (AU), the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and Troika countries of the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and Norway are informed about the continued violation of the ceasefire by the government.

The opposition forces are expected to take at least four weeks before their arrival in Juba and to form a transitional government of national unity.

(ST)

February 19, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan's presidential aide and the de facto chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Mohamed al-Hassan al-Merghani has sought the ruling of his party leaders and sectors on whether to continue to join or pull out from the government.

Mohamed al-Hassan al-Mirghani

The DUP left opposition ranks and joined the “broad-based” government of the NCP in December 2011, citing the “need to save the country” in the words of the party leader, Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani.

Last week, al-Hassan, who is the son of the DUP leader, threatened to withdraw from the government, saying no real job has been assigned to him since assuming office last year.

Well-informed sources told Sudan Tribune that al-Hassan has distributed a questionnaire among party members in Khartoum, the various states and abroad to learn the predominant opinion towards the participation in the government.

According to the sources, the questionnaire, which was seen by Sudan Tribune, aims to assess the partnership in the government and measure the political readiness to respond to the outcome of the national dialogue in case it contradicts with the party view for the comprehensive national consensus.

The same sources stressed that large party sectors support the idea of using the survey as means to produce decisive policies with the participation of the party leaders and members.

“The party base hope to see true participation in the top decision making circles within the government or to withdraw and lead a fierce opposition”, says the sources.

In an interview with Al-Sudani daily last week, al-Hassan complained about his party's participation in the government, saying he is unable to serve his country because the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) didn't engage him in the major political files.

It is worth to mention that al-Hassan has orchestrated the party's participation in the general elections of last April despite stiff opposition from senior DUP figures.

The decision of one of Sudan's biggest opposition parties to join the government has created a great deal of internal dissent that saw many members quitting in protest.

The party received the post of a presidential assistant and three ministries in the federal cabinet and continues to serve under this allocation.

(ST)

February 19, 2016 (JUBA) – Residents in South Sudan's newly created Wau state – curved from Western Bahr el Gahzal state in October last year – have accused their newly appointed governor, Elias Waya, of negligence and failure to protect members of the Fertit ethnic group from a mob of armed Dinka youth in the state.

Governor Elias Waya addressing people in Wau upon his arrival on January 12, 2016 (ST)

“It is unacceptable that there is a government which is to protect the citizens from internal and external threats but not Wau residents who are being targeted by the youth being mobilised by some groups who are even not belonging to Wau state,” Halima Hussen, a resident of Wau town told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

“People do not sleep at night because even government [forces] are involved in looting people's home at gunpoint,” she said.

She said the new governor has failed to protect the citizens of Wau despite his earlier promise that he would take security as a priority in his governorship, adding that houses have been burnt down to ashes and the governor could not do anything.

Multiple sources from Wau town told Sudan Tribune that all businesses and shops within the town, which is the state capital, are closed as people are told to remain indoors by the state government due to the clashes.

Meanwhile the secretary general of the opposition party of the United Democratic Salvation Front – Mainstream party in the state, Zacharia Juma Deng, also said the newly appointed governor, Waya, has not shown his leadership to protect the citizens.

“It is a great challenge to the head of state security man that insecurity intensified within the town without introducing strong measures against the perpetrators. No one could deny this; these are Dinka youth causing the insecurity but in presence of the government. Why is the government not using its powers to protect the innocent civilians,” he said.

“Elias should do something before the situation could run out of hands,” he said.

He said the Dinka armed youth, backed by elements of the South Sudanese army (SPLA) have targeted and killed members of the Fertit, Balanda ethnic groups, particularly in the areas of Bussere, Busalia, Jebel Keer and Bazia Jedid for the past few days.

Sudan Tribune has also confirmed that the SPLA command in Wau has arrested the state deputy governor, Major General Andrea Dominic, on Thursday, who is accused of allegedly having a link with the insecurity the state.

(ST)

February 19, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Governors of four Darfur states said the registration rate for the administrative referendum in their states has reached 80% and pointed out that the highest registration rate was amongst women.

Sudanese voters check their names on lists posted outside a polling stations in the country's first multi-party elections in decades in Khartoum on 11 April 2010 (AP)

Next April, the residents of Darfur region are called to determine the administrative status of the region as they have to vote the retention of the status quo of States system or the re-establishment of one region.

The governor of South Darfur Adam al-Faki said in a talk show broadcasted by the public Radio Omdurman on Friday, the referendum is a constitutional right, pointing the Darfurians will decide through the ballot boxes not the gums.

He noted there are signals that voters will likely opt for the retention of the States system, saying the registration is progressing well and the IDP's are participating effectively in the process.

Al-Faki pointed that 600,000 people have registered in his state until Thursday, underlining that the security situation is stable and the registration centres didn't witness any problem.

For his part, the governor of East Darfur state Anas Omer said the preparation for the referendum is going well and quietly, pointing that 38,000 people have registered in his state so far.

The governor of Central Darfur state Ga'afar Abdel-Hakam, for his part, pointed to the large registration turn out, stressing the registration numbers would increase in the next couple of days.

He said the registration process in the locality of Jebel Marra is progressing well, considering it a sign for the stable security situation in the area.

Since mid-January Jebel Marra has been the scene of violent clashes between government army and the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdel-Wahid Mohamed Nur.

Last week, Abdel-Hakam voiced his opposition to the establishment of one region in Darfur saying it would create a new intermediary organ between the state and the presidency.

Meanwhile, the referendum committee in the locality of al-Kouma in the capital of North Darfur state, El-Fasher Friday said the 45,353 people have registered in 12 centres in the various administrative units in the locality.

The governor of North Darfur state Abdel-Wahid Youssef, who inspected the workflow in the registration centres in Al-Kouma Friday, said the procedures are progressing well, pointing the people have the right to choose between retaining the current status or re-establishing one region.

The referendum officer in the locality of Al-Kouma, Mohamed Obied al-Zaki said the women turn out has exceeded that of men, pointing that 70% of the 45,000 people who have registered so far are women.

In line with the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), Darfurians have to choose between the creation of a Darfur Region composed of the states of Darfur; or the retention of the status quo of states system.

The referendum has the support of former rebel groups signatory of the Doha framework agreement. But it faces some opposition from the dignitaries of the ruling party in the region.

Many in the strongly tribally divided region fear that this creation of the regional body would revive tribal trivialities.

The opposition and rebel groups insist on the timing and the legitimacy of the procedure. They say that referendum would not express the will of Darfurians, pointing to the IDPs and refugees in Chad who will not participate in the vote.

Also, several lawmakers called to delay the referendum saying the exercise will create a new turmoil in Darfur and also noted the huge financial cost of the referendum.

Last week, Darfur's IDPs and refugees association rejected the referendum and considered it a trivial move in light of the continued conflict and displacement in the region.

Also, the opposition "Sudan Call" alliance called on the population of Darfur region to boycott the administrative referendum.

According to the latest census, the inhabitants of Darfur region are estimated at 12 million people including 5 million internal and external migrants.

(ST)

February 19, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudanese government has announced that it will delay formation of a transitional government of national unity (TGoNU) which president Salva Kiir had earlier said would be formed by Friday this week.

South Sudanese information minister Michael Makuei Lueth attends a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 5 January 2014 (Photo: AP/Elias Asmara)

South Sudanese information and broadcasting minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, announced on Friday the change of the decision after attending regular cabinet meeting chaired by president Kiir.

Lueth, who is the official spokesman of the government, told reporters on Friday that the cabinet meeting resolved to delay the formation of the transitional unity government until after forces of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) are deployed in Juba to allow the return of their leader, Riek Machar.

“The cabinet today has resolved to postpone the formation of transitional government of national unity. This is to allow the arrival of the SPLM-IO forces before the return of the first vice president, Riek Machar,” Lueth told reporters on Friday.

The decision of the cabinet meeting chaired by president Kiir, according to the minister, was taken in the interest of peace and in compliance with the desire of the peace partners and the citizens.

Earlier, opposition factions and the Joint Monitoring and Evaluations Commission (JMEC) urged President Kiir not to form the new government without participation of all the parties to the peace agreement they signed in August last year.

The other parties and JMEC however called on the relevant authorities to “expeditiously” implement the security arrangements including demilitarization of Juba and transportation of the opposition forces to the capital.

The cabinet, according to the government's spokesperson, also passed a resolution condemning the Wednesday and Thursday attacks on protection of civilians camp housing internally displaced persons under the management of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in Malakal town.

“The cabinet condemns in the strongest terms possible and demands explanation from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan what happened. This is because until now we do not have clear information as to what happened,” he said.

He added that the cabinet would want to know whether the UNMISS was operating in conformity to responsibility to protect civilians in camps under its control.

Deadly violence involving Dinka, Shilluk and Nuer ethnic groups erupted on Wednesday and continued on Thursday inside the camp, with elements of the South Sudanese army (SPLA) accused of taking the side of the Dinka ethnic group against the members of Shilluk and Nuer communities.

(ST)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the progress made by the people of the Comoros in preparations for presidential elections and polls for island governors on Sunday.

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Addressing billions of illicit financial outflows from Africa is imperative as the continent needs domestic resources for its development, said the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, who chairs a United Nations panel on the issue, urging the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and partner institutions to elaborate relevant action plans.

With senior United Nations officials warning of escalating inter-communal violence and rampant human rights violations in South Sudan, the Security Council today strongly condemned all attacks and provocations against civilians and the UN by armed actors, and called for calm on all sides.

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Deisi N.W. Kusztra, President World Family Organisation & Kristina Sperkova IOGT International President

By Deisi N.W. Kusztra and Kristina Sperkova
NEW YORK, Feb 19 2016 (IPS)

Children of alcoholics are the forgotten victims of someone else’s alcohol use. All too often they do remain invisible and alone, neglected by their parents, overlooked by teachers, down prioritized and ignored by governments and authorities.

But data shows that children of alcoholics (CoAs) do constitute a significant group.

• In Australia 1 million children live in households with at least one adult being addicted.
• In the United States, mothers convicted of child abuse are 3 times more likely to be alcoholics and fathers are 10 times more likely to be alcoholics. More than half of all confirmed abuse reports and 75% of child deaths involve the use of alcohol or other drugs by a parent.
• In the European Union, there are at least 9 million children and young people growing up with alcohol-addicted parents.
• Nacoa UK’s research estimates that there are 2.6 million children of school age living with parental alcohol problems in the UK alone.
• The number of children living in homes that are ravaged by alcohol problems sky-rockets considering the countries around the world that are currently not even measuring the issue.

Children growing up with parents who struggle with alcohol problems are a Human Rights crisis of tremendous proportions.

CoAs are greatly exposed to harm:
• They are five times more likely to develop an eating disorder.
• They are three times more likely to commit suicide.
• They are almost four times more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder themselves later on in life.

When we talk about children of alcoholics, we see seven aspects that make up the severity of the Human Rights crisis:
1. The societal stigma, stereotypes and associated taboo that still are attached to alcoholism and to living with parents who have alcohol problems.
2. Authorities’ inability to identify children of alcoholics, for example in schools.
3. Governments on local and national level fail in providing effective and sufficient services to these vulnerable and marginalized children.
4. Governments on local and national level fail in providing treatment for parents with alcohol problems, like programs that help the entire family.
5. Society’s inability to prevent and reduce alcohol harm in general.
6. In general, the lack of enabling, safe environments for children to grow up in.
7. Government shortcomings in implementing the Best interest principle enshrined in Art. 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Also these aspects are interdependent. Their absence from the debate and from effective policy-making processes is hurting children of alcoholics. In fact the they keep fuelling a Human Rights crisis that sees CoAs deprived of the enjoyment of eight Human Rights, such as (for entire list, see Annex I):
– Protection of the family (Art. 16.3),
– The right to social security and realization of economic, social and cultural rights (Art. 22),
– The right to a standard of living conducive to health and well-being (Art. 25.1),
– Special care and assistance for motherhood and childhood (Art. 25.2).

Having on mind the sheer extent of the problem, the severity of the problem and the impact of the problem not just on the present but on the future, we hold that it is essential to understand that Sustainable Development and the achievement of the Agenda2030 is not possible without comprehensive efforts to help and support children of alcoholics and to ensure that their number decreases in the coming years.

The fact that hundreds of millions of children grow up exposed to neglect and abuse due to their parents’ alcohol problems is a Child Rights issue, a public health issue, a social development issue, a poverty eradication and sustainable development issue.
In short, this is a complex and an urgent issue. Sometimes, especially in low- and middle-income countries it is a matter of life and death.

In this spirit, we call on ECOSOC, on WHO, on UNDP, UNDESA and on UNICEF to put the situation of children of alcoholics on their agenda. Using the collaborative synergies of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda2030, we urge the UN system to exercise leadership and seriously explore ways forward to address and improve the situation of millions of children around the world.

(End)

By Andreas Sieber, Giselle Bernard and Ivo Bantel
BERLIN, PARIS AND BRUSSELS, Feb 19 2016 (IPS)

The day, 12 December 2015 was historic. Following decades of negotiations, countries agreed to sign the first global, legally binding climate agreement.

“Every government seems to recognize now that the fossil fuel era must end and soon”, said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. Two months after the deal was reached at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties 21 (COP21), it is time to see to which extent these words have translated into concrete action.

World leaders agreed to limit global warming below 2°C and to aim for 1.5°C. They also decided to achieve carbon neutrality in the second half of this century – an obvious blow to the fossil fuel industry.

Brian Ricketts, Eurocoal’s Secretary General, said that his industry will be “hated and vilified in the same way that slave-traders were”.

Since the climate climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009, the prices for solar panels droped by about 80%.

“All of a sudden, it is really easy to see what we should do instead of burning oil, gas and coal” McKibben told IPS. But according to him, the Paris agreement is far from enough: “I hope no one came away from Paris with the idea that we’ve won such big victories that we won’t have to do anything anymore”, he told IPS. “The problem of course is that we are way behind.”

This becomes especially clear looking at the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), i.e. the countries’ pledged contributions. They will only bend the warming curve — from 3.6°C with current policies to 2.7°C. But the contributions are far from enough to limit global warming to 2°C or 1.5°C.

According to Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an independent scientific analysis group, only five countries submitted INDCs fully consistent with the 2°C limit. Major emitters such as the USA, the EU, China or Brazil, especially have to revise their INDCs, since they will most likely cause global warming exceeding 2°C. Globally scaled, the climate pledges of many countries such as Australia, Canada or the Russian Federation would actually lead to global warming of more than 3°C.

Also troubling, is the lack of ambition for climate finance. It is a matter of justice that rich nations provide financial support, especially to developing countries struggling against climate change. Copenhagen set the target of $100 billion to be provided by developed countries. The Paris agreement, in contrast, contains no quantitative target. It merely states that there should be a progression beyond previous efforts, but postpones the revision of the already insufficient $100 bn target to 2025.

Crucially, a framework for accounting and reporting is also missing. Discussions on such a framework were again pushed back to 2018, effectively leaving the intervening years a “Wild West” in climate finance.

The silver lining here is the call for voluntary contributions, to which countries seem to have been responsive. In September 2015 already, China had made a pledge of $3.1 bn to support developing countries in their action against climate change and in terms of greenhouse gas reduction, the Paris agreement already seems to be making an impact.

Until recently, Vietnam had the biggest coal development plans in Southeast Asia — about 70 new coal power stations. This matched the operating coal capacity of Japan. But in January, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announced the any further coal power projects would be cancelled. In his statement, Nguyen referred to the Paris agreement and assured he would “responsibly implement all international commitments in cutting down greenhouse gas emissions”. China also imposed a moratorium on coal mining for the next three years and US president Barack Obama halted coal mining on public land.

Even if the INDCs are not enough, they should at least be implemented. After all, COP21 is just the beginning, rather than the world’s final attempt at combating climate change.

The Paris agreement is hardly sufficient to meet its own long term goals, but it contains a so called ambition mechanism. Starting in 2020, countries have to update their climate pledges every five years and make new pledges which are more ambitious. Climate Interactive has calculated how much the climate pledges have to be scaled up to limit global warming to 2°C or even 1.5°C: All countries emissions have to peak before 2030 and industrialized countries have to cut their emissions far more deeply than they are currently planning.

Beyond the legal document that COP21 produced, it was also an event which mobilized international civil society. “There was not that much follow-through if you add up all the voluntary pledges countries made. But at least they gave us this tool to work with.” Bill McKibben said.

Civil society’s mobilization is perhaps the component that will bring about more ambitious climate action or, as former United Nations’ Secretary General Kofi Annan put it: “ordinary citizens” can “help bring about the change we need and encourage our leaders to actually lead”.

For Bill McKibben the fight against fossil fuel companies as he calls it has just begun in Paris: “From now on, when anyone wants to propose a new coalmine or a new pipeline, we’re going to say “you can’t do this because you’ve said you’ll try to keep the temperature from going up more than a degree and a half and clearly that’s not compatible.”

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Participants at a recent workshop on South-South Cooperation in Xiamen, China. Credit: Pratyush Sharma/IPS

By Pratyush Sharma
NEW DELHI, Feb 19 2016 (IPS)

China’s strength in South-South Cooperation (SSC) lies in its carrying out big-ticket infrastructure projects in diverse developing countries. It is remarkable in terms of project scale, speed and cost-effectiveness and has been playing a positive role in promoting partner’s nation-building, economic development and social progress. However, the swift completion of China’s infrastructure projects also has its sets of problems like little or no paper-work leading to lack of transparency, oversight and post-project monitoring. The backlash against Chinese labourers employed by Chinese companies in developing countries has been routinely highlighted by the international media with allegations of skirmishes with the local population, corruption coupled with resource theft.

Another important feature is the government-to-government and demand-driven nature of China’s SSC. However, this too has resulted in claims that it dispenses its development projects in partner countries at the behest of political elites rather than the general population. China is conscious of these accusations. It has taken active steps to mend its image and intends to adopt a more inclusive approach for its SSC. These include seeking social appraisal of their infrastructure projects, elucidation of outcomes and not just its output. Chinese projects not only aspire to create local jobs (output) but are also mindful of the nature of jobs (outcome) projects create for local residents in partner countries.

Other outcomes may include gender parity and pay parity of the workforce till the time the management of projects is in Chinese hands. Also, they now pay more emphasis on capacity-building and ‘direct aid’ (scholarships and fellowships), are now more forthcoming in working along with civil society organisations (CSOs) and they now focus on soft resource development. China encourages its state-owned firms to conduct social and environmental impact assessments and shoulder more social responsibility to enhance transparent management. They are now more open to coordinate with international stake-holders for carrying its development work in the global South.

Two cases in point are the coordination of Chinese humanitarian workers with the teams of multilateral humanitarian organisations in the aftermath of Cyclone Komen in Myanmar in 2015 and coordinated efforts of Chinese restoration experts with their French and Japanese counterparts in restoration projects of Ankor temples in Cambodia. Equality and mutual respect are the core values – when providing assistance, China adheres to the principles of non-interference in the internal matters of its partner, non-conditionality (both economic and political) and respecting partner’s right to independently choose their own paths and models of development.

China provides assistance to the best of its ability to other developing countries within the framework of SSC to support and help, especially the least developed countries (LDCs) to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods. For instance, the TAZARA Project, rail link between Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to Kapiri Mposhi (near Lusaka) in Zambia was constructed by China on demand by the leaders of the respective countries through a turn-key project worth US $500 million. The project was deemed financially unviable by Western lenders when Julius Nyerere of Tanzania approached the West to help reduce Zambia’s economic dependence on Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa (then apartheid-ridden) through this railway line.

At the China-Africa Forum Summit 2015, China identified five major pillars for bilateral cooperation in 10 major areas. These include consolidating political mutual trust, striving for win-win economic cooperation, enhancing exchanges, learning from each other’s cultures, helping each other in security, and cementing unity and coordination on international affairs. While the 10 sectors identified for priority cooperation are wide-ranging, they include the areas of industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, infrastructure, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction, public health, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.

Chinese projects, especially in Africa and elsewhere, have been embroiled in different controversies and have attracted a bad press, internationally and locally. China has included justice, openness, inclusiveness and sustainability as new pillars and security and terrorism issues are the new sectors where China’s SSC is venturing for the first time. China, recently brokered reconciliatory talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban. Also, the proposed triangular development cooperation between China and France; and between China and UK for Africa’s development is a never-tried-before phenomenon and remains to be seen as to how it would pan out. This particular proposal was received with a lukewarm response from African leaders.

In this regard, the role of platforms like China Agricultural University’s China International Development Research Network assumes special significance as it tries to fill the knowledge gap by sharing knowledge on international development with outstanding individuals and institutions, both within China and abroad. It aspires to develop a knowledge pool on international development in China, to facilitate the exchange between China and the international development community. An Indian counterpart Forum for Indian Development Cooperation set up in 2013 has undertaken a similar inclusive stance.

China’s strengths in SSC include prioritisation to aid payment and delivery over transparency and post-project monitoring. Financing for infrastructure projects is primarily done by China Exim Bank, which also provides concessional loans for infrastructure building and supporting the trade of Chinese goods. The China Exim bank is increasingly making use of a deal structure – known as the “Angola mode” or “resources for infrastructure” – whereby repayment of the loan for infrastructure development is made in terms of natural resources (for example, oil). On average, Chinese loans are offered at an interest rate of 3.6 per cent with a grace period of 4 years and a maturity of 12 years. Overall, this represents a grant element of around 36 per cent, which qualifies as concessional loan according to official definitions. However, the variation around all of these parameters is considerable across countries. The interest rate varies from 0.25 per cent to 6 per cent, grace period from 2 to 10 years, maturities from 5 to 25 years and overall grant element from 10 to 70 per cent.

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