EU questions aid effectiveness for DRC

BRUSSELS, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Efforts made by the European Union to provide assistance to the Democratic Republic of Congo resulted in limited progress, an audit found.

The European Union has provided $2.5 billion in assistance to the DRC government from 2003-11. A report published Tuesday by the European Court of Auditors found the assistance didn't have much of an effect.

"While EU support is well-intentioned and achieving some results, progress is slow, uneven and, overall, limited," ECA member and author of the report Hans Gustav Wessberg said in a statement. "Fewer than half of the programs examined have delivered, or are likely to deliver, most of the expected results.

Auditors said EU authorities should be more demanding of Congolese authorities when it comes to European expectations on governance. The ECA found that, despite the assistance, DRC's political development may be a long process.

DRC is working to address violence in its eastern provinces. Members of the rebel March 23 Movement, comprised of former soldiers, are behind much of violence.

DRC President Joseph Kabila told the U.N. General Assembly last week progress can't take place in a security vacuum.

"Development is simply hypothetical," he said.