Home »

Dr. Vinod Thomas of World Bank: Fragile states fertile ground for terrorism and crime

SINGAPORE: The World Bank Thursday called for more effective assistance to countries in danger of collapse due to conflict and poverty, which it said make fertile ground for terrorism, crime and disease.

The number of such ?fragile? states has risen sharply to 26 this year from 17 in 2003 with some 500 million people.

Failure to find more effective ways to help them will foment global instability, the World Bank?s independent evaluation unit said in a report released ahead of the bank?s annual meeting in Singapore next week.

?Neglecting the fragile states ? home to 500 million people, half of whom are living in extreme poverty ? risks worsening their misery, in turn feeding regional and global instability,? said Vinod Thomas, head of the unit.

?The donor community and the (World) Bank must make better use of resources to work with them in the difficult and lengthy transition from volality and conflict to stability and peace.?

Thomas warned the challenges in these nations, among them Angola, Afghanistan, Haiti, the Central African Republic and Tajikistan, ?must be managed before they spin out of control, destabilising these countries and leading to wider security crises.?

Fragile states are those embroiled in complex internal conflicts or struggling through post-conflict transitions.

?Often their instability provides a safe haven for terrorism, drug production and weapon smuggling. These states face widespread lack of security, significant corruption, breakdown in the rule of law and limited government resources for development,? the report said.

Ajay Chhibber, a director at the evaluation unit, said instability in one country ?can easily affect? their region.

?Coordinated and sustained multilateral action with a unified vision to reduce the imminent threat coming from fragile countries is more important than ever. Nation-building on the cheap does not work,? Chhibber said.

The report said while the World Bank has provided about 4.1 billion dollars in lending to these countries over the past two years, ?too often early engagement was not followed-up with a clear and relevant reform agenda.?

Singapore, Thursday, AFP