The development drive for Mali, one of the world’s poorest countries, is aimed at halting a resurgence of the rebels driven out of major northern towns by a French-led offensive this year.

“More than 3.25 billion euros have been mobilized at this conference,” French President Francois Hollande told the meeting, organized jointly by France and the European Union.

More than 100 delegations took part in the conference, including 10 presidents or prime ministers.

The EU’s executive Commission will allocate 524 million euros to Mali. Large pledges by France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, the Islamic Development Bank and others enabled the West African country to exceed its goal of raising two billion euros.

It needs the money to fill a funding gap in a 4.34 billion euro plan to keep the peace and build infrastructure over this year and next.

EU, French and Malian officials declared the conference a success. “It went beyond what we could have hoped for … This conference marks a new chapter in the fight of civilization against terrorism,” Malian President Dioncounda Traore told a news conference.

French and EU officials said that releasing the bulk of the money was dependent on Mali fulfilling its commitment to holding presidential elections on July 28.

“We cannot wait for the elections. One third of the EU commitment will be financed before, but two thirds depends on the elections,” French Development Minister Pascal Canfin told Reuters.

He also said Mali must push through reforms in justice, fighting corruption, public finances and decentralizing power.

NO BLANK CHEQUE

Mali’s implementation of reforms will be strictly monitored by the donors.

“Nothing is a blank check, everything is covered by this plan for 2013-2014 and the progress will be evaluated based on the objectives of this plan,” Andris Piebalgs, the EU’s development commissioner, told Reuters.

Aid group Oxfam welcomed the pledges, but said they should be seen as “a down payment, not a one-off check”.

France launched a ground and air operation in its former colony in January to break the Islamist rebel hold on the northern two-thirds of the country, saying the militants posed a threat to the security of West Africa and Europe.

The rapid offensive took back most of the territory seized by the militants but has failed to stop them from waging a guerrilla war.

Hollande dismissed comparisons between Mali and Afghanistan.

“In Mali, the terrorists have been beaten. I don’t say there are none left, I don’t say there is no risk, but there is no longer any fighting,” he said.

Mali continues to suffer a humanitarian crisis, with more than 174,000 refugees in neighboring countries and 300,000 internally displaced.

Some 750,000 Malians need food assistance and 660,000 children face malnutrition, according to Kristalina Georgieva, the EU’s humanitarian aid commissioner.

“At the moment conditions are better in the camps than they are at home,” Georgieva told Reuters.

“This is why this focus on the early recovery of basic services is so crucial. As long as people live better in the camps than they live at home, they’re not going to go back.”

(Additional reporting by Justyna Pawlak; editing by Mike Collett-White)

The development drive for Mali, one of the world’s poorest countries, is aimed at halting a resurgence of the rebels driven out of major northern towns by a French-led offensive this year.

“More than 3.25 billion euros have been mobilised at this conference,” French President Francois Hollande told the meeting, organised jointly by France and the European Union.

More than 100 delegations took part in the conference, including 10 presidents or prime ministers.

The EU’s executive Commission will allocate 524 million euros to Mali. Large pledges by France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, the Islamic Development Bank and others enabled the West African country to exceed its goal of raising two billion euros.

It needs the money to fill a funding gap in a 4.34 billion euro plan to keep the peace and build infrastructure over this year and next.

EU, French and Malian officials declared the conference a success. “It went beyond what we could have hoped for … This conference marks a new chapter in the fight of civilization against terrorism,” Malian President Dioncounda Traore told a news conference.

French and EU officials said that releasing the bulk of the money was dependent on Mali fulfilling its commitment to holding presidential elections on July 28.

“We cannot wait for the elections. One third of the EU commitment will be financed before, but two thirds depends on the elections,” French Development Minister Pascal Canfin told Reuters.

He also said Mali must push through reforms in justice, fighting corruption, public finances and decentralising power.

NO BLANK CHEQUE

Mali’s implementation of reforms will be strictly monitored by the donors.

“Nothing is a blank cheque, everything is covered by this plan for 2013-2014 and the progress will be evaluated based on the objectives of this plan,” Andris Piebalgs, the EU’s development commissioner, told Reuters.

Aid group Oxfam welcomed the pledges, but said they should be seen as “a down payment, not a one-off cheque”.

France launched a ground and air operation in its former colony in January to break the Islamist rebel hold on the northern two-thirds of the country, saying the militants posed a threat to the security of West Africa and Europe.

The rapid offensive took back most of the territory seized by the militants but has failed to stop them from waging a guerrilla war.

Hollande dismissed comparisons between Mali and Afghanistan.

“In Mali, the terrorists have been beaten. I don’t say there are none left, I don’t say there is no risk, but there is no longer any fighting,” he said.

Mali continues to suffer a humanitarian crisis, with more than 174,000 refugees in neighbouring countries and 300,000 internally displaced.

Some 750,000 Malians need food assistance and 660,000 children face malnutrition, according to Kristalina Georgieva, the EU’s humanitarian aid commissioner.

“At the moment conditions are better in the camps than they are at home,” Georgieva told Reuters.

“This is why this focus on the early recovery of basic services is so crucial. As long as people live better in the camps than they live at home, they’re not going to go back.”

(Additional reporting by Justyna Pawlak; editing by Mike Collett-White)

Sweden, Austria and some other EU member states are resisting efforts by France and Britain to modify the ban to strengthen rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The embargo is part of a package of EU sanctions on Syria that expires on June 1. EU foreign ministers will discuss the issue on May 27 and it could come up at an EU summit on May 22.

The French diplomat’s suggestion that the arms embargo could be linked to the outcome of a new initiative from the United States and Russia for a diplomatic solution in Syria appears designed to win support for the French-British proposal.

It would effectively introduce a brake on the lifting of the arms embargo, allowing for it to take effect only if the proposed peace conference in Geneva next month fails.

“Strengthening the hand of the opposition is not contradictory to holding talks,” the French diplomat said, briefing reporters on condition he was not further identified.

“There are always questions about the time frame. We could take a decision at the end of May – if we take a decision – with its implementation deferred depending on what happens or what doesn’t happen in Geneva,” he said.

“We’ve always said that the goal was a political solution, but (that) a political solution depended to a large degree on what happened on the ground,” the diplomat said.

The U.S.-Russian peace drive is based on a deal announced in Geneva in June 2012 for the creation of a transitional Syrian government “with full executive authority by mutual consent”.

That wording left unresolved the question of any future role for Assad and the agreement was never implemented.

Britain argues that lifting the arms embargo for rebels would strengthen the “moderate” opposition and ensure the EU could respond to any Syrian government use of chemical weapons.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said on Tuesday he opposed the idea on the grounds that more weapons would only fan the fighting and might snuff out chances for peace talks.

Neither France nor Britain has decided whether to go ahead and arm rebel factions, with Paris saying it first wants to see what impact the threat of doing so has on Assad.

(Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Paris launched a ground and air operation in its former colony in January to break the Islamist rebel hold on the northern two-thirds of the country, saying the militants posed a threat to the security of West Africa and Europe.

The rapid offensive took back most of the territory seized by the militants but has failed to stop them from waging a guerrilla war.

On Friday, suspected Islamists carried out three suicide attacks on soldiers from Mali and Niger in northern Mali, wounding a Malian soldier. At least five bombers died.

In a document drawn up for an international donors’ conference in Brussels on Wednesday, the Malian government said it would be able to finance just over half of a 4.34 billion euro plan for this year and next, but needed help with the rest.

“The international community is greatly needed to finance and implement the plan, up to a level of 1.96 billion euros,” the government said in the document, posted in French on the conference web site.

“To get out of the crisis and to begin lasting development, Mali needs and depends on the technical and financial support of the international community,” it said.

The plan sets out 12 priorities, including keeping the peace, organizing credible elections and fighting corruption.

Next week’s conference, organized by France and the European Union, will aim to raise at least $600 to $700 million, diplomatic sources said.

Due to attend are Mali’s interim president, Dioncounda Traore, a number of other African leaders, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

France is now looking to withdraw thousands of its troops and hand over security duties to a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Donors who suspended assistance to Mali following a military coup in March 2012 have resumed budget support and project aid.

The EU has unblocked 250 million euros in frozen development aid and Paris has restored 150 million euros, including a 10 million euro emergency assistance fund to rebuild key services such as water and electricity.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

EU member states are sharply divided over easing the embargo for the rebels. Negotiations over whether to take such a bold step are expected to run until close to June 1, the expiry date of the existing sanctions against Syria. EU foreign ministers will meet to discuss the issue on May 27.

Several EU governments are resisting French and British efforts to get the embargo lifted, concerned that the move could escalate the two-year-old Syrian conflict.

In a discussion paper circulated to EU partners in the past week and seen by Reuters on Wednesday, Britain set out two options for amending current sanctions to allow weapons to be supplied to the opposition Syrian National Coalition.

The first option would fully exempt the coalition from the EU arms embargo while a second option would remove the word “non-lethal” from the sanctions language, opening the way for weapons to be sent, the four-page paper said.

The renewed EU debate comes days after U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the United States is rethinking its opposition to arming the rebels.

The 27-nation EU is also looking at further ways to give an economic boost to the Syrian opposition after EU governments agreed last month to allow purchases of oil from the opposition, EU diplomats said.

One idea under discussion is how to amend bank sanctions to ease financial transactions with rebel-held areas.

The British document said the situation in Syria, where more than 70,000 people have died in the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, was “deteriorating sharply” and the EU needed to raise pressure on Assad to negotiate.

Easing the arms embargo would strengthen the moderate opposition, it said. “We need to head off any reliance by the moderate Syrian opposition on Islamist-backed armed groups.”

“Crucially, it will ensure we can respond flexibly to a major escalation in the conflict, such as chemical weapons attacks,” the authors of the paper added.

OPPOSITION

The British document is intended as a basis for debate in an EU working group that has already begun discussions on whether or how to amend the EU sanctions. Most diplomats think agreement is unlikely before foreign ministers meet in late May, although the issue may also be discussed by EU leaders on May 22.

Despite the new British ideas, several member states, including Austria, Spain and Sweden, have strong reservations about lifting the arms embargo for the rebels, EU diplomats say.

Austria is one of the staunchest opponents, saying lifting the ban could force it to pull out its troops from the U.N. peacekeeping force on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, because it would call into question the EU’s impartiality.

Despite warning that weapons could fall into the hands of militants, Berlin is seen as open to a compromise, the diplomats said. Germany is working with Britain on how to change financial sanctions to help the rebels and pressure Assad.

Russia, a leading arms supplier to the Syrian government, has warned the EU not to lift its arms embargo on the rebels.

Britain tried to address concerns about diversion of weapons by saying any equipment would be supplied only to the Syrian National Coalition, which last month rejected “all forms of terrorism” and vowed to keep weapons out of the “wrong hands”.

If the EU amends the embargo, it would need to rigorously monitor how any equipment was used, Britain said.

“We have worked over many months to build effective relations with the opposition and have gradually extended our network of contacts. We already identify the recipients of any assistance very carefully,” it said.

Syria’s al-Nusra Front, one of the most effective rebel forces battling Assad’s troops, formally pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri last month.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will host talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and senior Pakistan officials in Brussels on Wednesday, with the aim of calming tension over border disputes and a stalled peace process.

“It is a problem that terrorists can cross the border, conduct terrorist acts in Afghanistan and then seek sanctuaries, safe havens in Pakistan,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after alliance foreign ministers met to discuss Afghanistan.

“It is countering all our efforts to improve the security situation. So we have a common interest in an intensified fight against these cross-border activities,” he said.

NATO had urged Pakistan’s government and military to step up efforts to fight militants in the border region, Rasmussen said.

“We need a positive engagement of Pakistan if we are to ensure long-term peace and stability not only in Afghanistan, but in the region.”

Afghan officials say Pakistan has a long history of supporting Afghanistan’s Taliban and other insurgent factions. Pakistan has in turn accused Afghanistan of giving safe haven to militants on the Afghan side of the border.

Afghanistan has grown increasingly frustrated with Pakistan over efforts to pursue a peace process involving the Taliban, suggesting that Islamabad is intent on keep Afghanistan unstable until foreign combat forces leave at the end of 2014.

The talks follow weeks of tension with Pakistan over their 2,600 km (1,600 mile) border and stalled peace efforts.

U.S. officials hope that Kerry, who has a good relationship with Karzai, can bring the parties back to the negotiating table and make constructive progress on an issue that has long-term security implications for Washington.

Rasmussen held talks with Karzai at NATO headquarters on Tuesday, which he said focused on the legal framework for NATO’s presence in Afghanistan after 2014.

NATO-led forces are expected to cede the lead role for security in Afghanistan this spring to Afghan soldiers, 12 years after the United States invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban government harboring Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader.

The White House has yet to decide how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Much depends on progress in negotiations with Karzai on a Bilateral Security Agreement to define the future legal status of U.S. forces.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will host talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and senior Pakistan officials in Brussels on Wednesday, with the aim of calming tension over border disputes and the stalled peace process.

“If we are to ensure long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan we also need a positive engagement of Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Pakistan,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters as alliance foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss NATO’s mission in Afghanistan.

Wednesday’s U.S.-chaired meeting is part of a series of on-off discussions between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the behest of the United States. Rasmussen said he would meet Karzai later on Tuesday.

Afghanistan has grown increasingly frustrated with Pakistan over efforts to pursue a peace process involving the Taliban, suggesting that Islamabad is intent on keep Afghanistan unstable until after foreign combat forces have left at the end of 2014.

U.S. officials hope that Kerry, who has a good relationship with Karzai, can bring the parties back to the negotiating table and make constructive progress on an issue that has long-term security implications for Washington.

Kerry said on Monday the aim of the meeting would be to “try to talk about how we can advance this process in the simplest, most cooperative and most cogent way, so that we wind up with both Pakistan’s and Afghanistan’s interests being satisfied, but, most importantly, with a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.”

TENSION

The talks follow weeks of tension with Pakistan over their 2,600 km (1,600 mile) border and stalled peace efforts.

Although there have been several meetings in Western capitals over the past few months in which representatives of the Taliban have met Afghan peace negotiators, there have been no signs of a breakthrough.

Kabul accuses Pakistan of harboring the Taliban leadership in the city of Quetta and using militants as proxies to counter the influence of India in Afghanistan.

As well as Karzai and Kerry, Wednesday’s meeting will include Afghanistan’s defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, Pakistan’s army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, and Pakistan’s foreign secretary, Jalil Jilani, the U.S. official said.

NATO-led forces are expected to cede the lead role for security in Afghanistan this spring to Afghan soldiers, 12 years after the United States invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban government harboring Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader who masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.

Most foreign combat forces are due to pull out by the end of 2014, leaving a smaller NATO-led training mission behind and a U.S. force to fight militants.

The White House has yet to decide how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014 and this could be a factor influencing both Taliban and Pakistani strategy. Much depends on progress in negotiations with Karzai on a Bilateral Security Agreement to define the future legal status of U.S. forces.

NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on February 22 discussed keeping a combined NATO force of between 8,000 and 12,000 troops. That compares to combined NATO forces of about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan now.

General James Mattis, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, said in March he had recommended keeping 13,600 American troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

(Editing by Jon Hemming)

The decision, taken at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in
Luxembourg, will allow European importers to buy crude oil from
Syria, if authorised by an opposition umbrella grouping.

The sanctions were imposed in 2011 in response to Assad’s
brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Two years later, the
conflict is largely a stalemate, and an estimated 70,000 people
have died.

EU officials said the easing of oil sanctions would be
followed by more aid and other support for the rebels, amid
mounting fears of a humanitarian disaster throughout the region.

“The humanitarian situation is extremely alarming, the
council (of ministers) today adopted a decision that will allow
the Syrian National Coalition to take advantage of the oil and
gas reserves under its control,” the EU’s foreign policy chief,
Catherine Ashton, told reporters.

The new rules will also allow European companies to resume
investment in Syrian oil infrastructure, provided the cash goes
to the rebels, and sell them equipment related to the sector.

Buying Syrian crude will be complicated because of security
concerns and battered infrastructure, but officials said more
financial help would be offered.

SEND A SIGNAL

A prominent member of the Syrian opposition said on Monday
it would take at least another month before the group could sell
crude, largely because it still does not have a provisional
government to oversee possible sales.

Activists say Islamist rebels also are clashing with
tribesmen in eastern Syria over the oil facilities in the power
vacuum left by the civil war.

The latest U.S. government data indicate oil production in
Syria was 153,000 barrels per day in October 2012, a nearly 60
percent decline from the start of the conflict in March 2011.

“It is important for us to send a signal that we are open to
helping in other ways, in all the ways possible, including ways
adding to the finances (of the opposition),” British Foreign
Secretary William Hague told reporters in Luxembourg.

In Brussels, the head of the EU’s executive Commission, Jose
Manuel Barroso, said after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry, visiting for a NATO meeting, that the EU would
give more humanitarian aid for Syria.

“The European Union is preparing a very comprehensive
package of support in the humanitarian field, because of the
refugees that we have seen increasing to unbearable numbers with
unbearable suffering,” he said.

More than 4 million people are internally displaced in Syria
and nearly 1.4 million have sought refuge in neighbouring
countries.

The Syrian crisis risks unsettling Lebanon and causing a
humanitarian catastrophe in Europe’s backyard, the EU’s
humanitarian chief said on Monday, calling for a new drive to
help refugees and strained neighbouring states.

EU governments remain divided on other support for the
rebels, with Britain leading a contested push to ease the bloc’s
embargo on sending arms to Syria.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

Lifting the sanctions gives more certainty to European firms
contemplating investments in one of the least developed markets
in Asia. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has significant
natural resources and borders economic giants China and India.

The EU’s move could put pressure on the United States, which
suspended sanctions in May last year and allowed U.S. companies
to invest through a general licence. Some American executives
have urged Washington to go further and lift sanctions entirely.

The EU lifted its sanctions a year after suspending them in
response to a dramatic series of reforms put in place since
Myanmar’s military stepped aside and a quasi-civilian government
was installed in 2011.

“In response to the changes that have taken place and in the
expectation that they will continue, the council (EU
governments) has decided to lift all sanctions with the
exception of the embargo on arms,” EU foreign ministers said in
a statement after a meeting in Luxembourg.

But Human Rights Watch accused authorities in Myanmar’s
western Rakhine State of crimes against humanity in the ethnic
cleansing of Rohingya Muslims last year, charges the government
dismissed as one-sided and “unacceptable”.

Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel peace prize laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi said however the clashes should not be tied to
the economic embargo.

“I do not think that we should link the economic sanctions
to the violence, which has a lot to do with rule of law and with
other social political problems.”

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the progress
made was sufficient to justify lifting the sanctions despite the
violence.

“It is absolutely vital to continue work … to try to stop
this ethnic violence and the European Union countries have a
role to play in that, including in the training of police
forces, where we can help, (and) in promoting dialogue between
faiths,” Hague told reporters at the EU meeting.

“The problems of Burma are not over but the progress that
has been made has been substantial enough, is serious enough,
and the government there are sufficiently committed to that, for
us to take this decision,” Hague said.

SECTARIAN VIOLENCE

The EU had frozen the assets of nearly 1,000 companies and
institutions in Myanmar and banned almost 500 people from
entering the EU. It also prohibited military-related technical
help and banned investment in the mining, timber and precious
metals sectors.

Under President Thein Sein’s reforms, Suu Kyi, who spent 15
years under house arrest, has been allowed back into politics.

A succession of foreign leaders, including U.S. President
Barack Obama, have travelled to Myanmar, and the country is
attracting a surge of interest from overseas businesses keen to
enter one of Asia’s last untapped markets.

But ethnic violence continues to be a problem.

Rakhine State was swept by sectarian violence last year that
killed at least 110 people and left 120,000 homeless.

Sectarian violence erupted in Myanmar again last month and
43 people were killed. Thousands, mostly Muslims, were driven
from their homes and businesses as bloodshed spread across the
central region of the Buddhist-majority country.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said security forces were
complicit in disarming Rohingya Muslims of makeshift weapons and
standing by, or even joining in, as Rakhine Buddhist mobs killed
men, women and children in June and October 2012.

Ye Htut, a presidential spokesman and Myanmar’s deputy
Minister of Information, dismissed the report for only taking
news from “one side” in a statement on his Facebook page.

(Editing by Jon Hemming)

Kristalina Georgieva said the two-year-old crisis in Syria was the most dramatic of recent years with 4.3 million people internally displaced and nearly 1.4 million refugees in neighboring countries.

“Once we have the virus of inter-community violence spreading, what could the consequences be? Lebanon in flames, a humanitarian catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in a region that is close to our backyard,” Georgieva said.

“So it is a tremendously important moral issue to help inside Syria and support the neighborhood, but it is also in European self-interest to do so,” she said.

The flow of refugees outside Syria was exceeding capacity to cope and placing great strain on neighboring countries that are giving them shelter, she told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting that discussed the crisis.

Many communities sheltering refugees had turned hostile towards them and attitudes would turn even more negative if more skirmishes took place on Lebanese territory, Georgieva, who is from Bulgaria, said.

At least 70,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war, which began as an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad but increasingly pits majority Sunnis against minority Alawites.

Syrian troops and Lebanese Shi’ite militias attacked rebel-held areas on the two countries’ border on Sunday, in the heaviest clashes of the civil war in the strategic region, Lebanese and Syrian sources said.

MORE AID

Georgieva said Europe had provided some 600 million euros ($782 million) in humanitarian aid to Syria, of which 200 million had come from the EU’s executive Commission.

The Commission had asked the European Parliament for permission to tap a 250-million-euro emergency reserve to increase aid. “Once this authorization comes … we will be announcing significant additional resources to Syria,” she said.

She said the European Commission was looking at ways to mobilize more coordinated economic support for the refugees and host communities.

She also said she believed war crimes had been committed in Syria by both Assad’s forces and the rebels.

“We have lost more than 30 humanitarian workers in Syria, primarily Syrians who work in our organizations, we have had kidnappings on a regular basis of humanitarian workers,” she said.

“The main offender is the Assad regime, because Assad was the one who chose in July last year to use artillery and aircraft to bomb civilians and there is plenty of evidence to indicate that hospitals and bakeries have been targeted,” she said.

Rebels had also shot at humanitarian convoys, she said.

“There is also some indication that use of sharia law is adding to the trauma of the Syrian people,” she said.

($1 = 0.7674 euros)