Norway supported Eritrea actively during the liberation struggle, and continued cooperation during the 1990’s. The border war caused severe delays in further progress, but volume of support has increased steadily since, and was at about USD 25 million in 2003. Dominant elements are humanitarian assistance, support to the sectors of education, agriculture, health, water and sanitation, HIV/aids, mine action, development of statistics, telecommunication, culture, civil society, etc. Main objectives are ”Peace, reconciliation and stability” and ”Democracy, human rights and good governance”. Special emphasis is given to the disabled and for gender balance and womens’ rights. Support is provided from the Norwegian Government, directly to the Government of Eritrea, to the UN and to civil society organisations. Furthermore, a number of Norwegian organisations are involved in support to partner organisations.
28/01/2005 :: NORWEGIAN ASSISTANCE TO ERITREA
Norwegian assistance to Eritrea was provided during the liberation struggle, and bilateral assistance started optimistically after the liberation. The planning for several projects was initiated and started soon thereafter in the early 1990’s. Telecommunication was one of them, ref. the blue telephone boots found in the bigger towns. Other projects supported in the 1990s were mineral resource mapping, hydrocarbone exploration, human resource development in education and agriculture, culture, support to refugees and returnees, university cooperation, statistics, health sector, etc. Continued support to several of these projects were well underway when the border war broke out in 1998, which caused severe delays in further progress. The setback in democratic development in 2001 caused further delays and a reluctance from the side of Norway to proceed with planning for bilateral cooperation.
However, in 2003 Norway signalled willingness to resume bilateral cooperation for teachers training and for institutional cooperation with the National Statistics Office (NSO), and new agreements were signed the same year. Support for rehabilitation and emergency assistance, in particular through the UN-system, has been steadily increasing. The country has been affected by drought the last four years, which causes a need for continued massive assistance for food and other emergency supplies. The unsettled border issue with Ethiopia causes continued mobilisation, preventing release of labour force to fully engage in productive activities. This situation hampers effective development; tying up most assistance to short and medium-term needs.
Since 2002, the Norwegian support to Eritrea has aimed at the objectives of ”Peace, reconciliation and stability” and ”Democracy, human rights and good governance”. From 2001 to 2003 the total transfers have more than tripled from about NOK 41 mill in 2001 to more than NOK 152 mill in 2003. The support consists of bilateral cooperation, support through UN and through Norwegian civil society organisations. Emergency assistance is the biggest area of support. In this period Norway has also established a permanent embassy in Asmara.
Bilateral projects supported are Institutional cooperation between Statistics Norway and NSO, Teachers training and Human resource development in agriculture. Support through UN comprises prevention of Hiv/aids to UNFPA and Unicef. The two agreements will merge into one joint UN programme where UNAids will also take part. Clearing lands for landmines and other explosives, together with providing support for the victims of these, is a big challenge for the Government. Norway supports these efforts through UNDP in agreements totalling NOK 72 mill, out of which 37% has been disbursed already. As a consequence of the wars, hundreds of thousand people have been dislocated from their homes, taking refuge both in Eritrea as well as in Sudan. Likewise, many people have been expelled from Ethiopia. Most people such affected have lived in camps, for five years or more. Norway has contributed in sustaining these in their camps, in the repatriation, and supports the efforts of the UN together with the Government to resettle 70.000 internally displaced persons back to their original homes.
’Gender rights’ calls for attention, and Norway supports efforts to promote these, in particular prevention of ’female genital mutilation’ (FGM). Norwegian Church Aid has played a central role in developing methods to prevent FGM, in implementing projects and supporting organisations promoting the same purpose. A new agreement for continued efforts from NCA starts in 2005, which will also provide technical assistance to a new joint programme initiative from the UN, lead by UNFPA, to prevent the practice of FGM.
Civil society organisations in Eritrea promote democratic and human rights based development, together with efforts to reduce poverty. Norway supports such efforts through partnership relations with Norwegian civil society organisations like NCA, Development Fund, Norwegian Peoples’ Aid, Association of the Blind, Handicap Association, and the Red Cross Society. The Embassy in Asmara also provides direct support to a few civil society organisations in Eritrea.
