Emergency aid for Mozambique and other countries affected by Cyclone Idai

Subject: Emergency aid for Mozambique and other countries affected by Cyclone Idai

Cyclone Idai has caused wholesale destruction in Mozambique.

President Filipe Nyusi confirmed in Maputo yesterday that the death toll in the provinces of Manica and Sofala could reach more than a thousand people and said that the country was ‘experiencing a major and genuine humanitarian disaster’. A large part of the city of Beira may have been destroyed.

What is more, the Tete region of Mozambique recently suffered severe flooding.

Malawi and Zimbabwe were affected by Idai and have reported fatalities, destroyed crops, damage to a wide range of infrastructure and cut-off populations.

Has the Council discussed this issue, and is it is willing to support the mobilisation of aid for the countries and populations affected, in particular by means of:

Humanitarian or other aid – particularly supplies of rescue equipment, food and medical assistance and help to get infrastructure up and running again and to restore the production potential of affected areas – which could be mobilised urgently to reach the populations affected by this natural disaster;

Increasing development aid funding, particularly the via European Development Fund;

Advocating discussions in the relevant international forums on measures such as cancelling these countries’ debt.

Reply

(17 June 2019)

The European Council has expressed deep regret for the loss of lives and the destruction in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, welcoming the emergency response provided by the European Union and its Member States. It has also expressed its readiness to continue supporting the countries concerned in providing urgent humanitarian relief to the affected populations (1).

Decisions on the allocation of EU and Member States’ humanitarian funding are not taken by the Council. They are taken by the Member States, which provide bilateral humanitarian assistance, and by the Commission, which implements measures under Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 on humanitarian aid (as the case may be under committee procedures).

The humanitarian crisis caused by cyclone Idai was discussed in the relevant Council Working Party on 11 and 12 April in order to enable Member States and the Commission to take better-informed decisions about their bilateral humanitarian funding and to coordinate their respective responses.

The Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) was activated on 20 March to support the Member States in providing assistance. This assistance includes the deployment of rapid response teams and health professionals, as well as assets in the areas of food, medicine, shelter, electricity generation, and water purification.

Shortly after the cyclone struck, the Presidency also decided to move the EU's Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) arrangements into monitoring mode. This has enabled Member States to easily access daily situation reports on this crisis provided by the Commission and to exchange information on their respective national responses.

National Indicative Programmes financed by the European Development Fund are flexible enough to meet urgent needs deriving from natural disasters such as catastrophic cyclones. As regards the possible cancellation or relief of the affected countries’ debts, this is a matter for discussions in the dedicated international forum, namely the Paris Club.

⋅1∙ EUCO 1/19. | | ( | | )