EU: Aid needed elsewhere in DRC

2008-11-17 21:11

Kinshasa - The European Commission warned on Monday against focusing too much attention on DR Congo's troubled Nord-Kivu province while the need for humanitarian aid elsewhere in the country was "perhaps more urgent".

"All the attention is focused on Nord-Kivu," said Patrick Lambrechts, head of the EU's humanitarian aid programme for the DR Congo, where at least 250 000 people have been displaced by months of fighting in Nord-Kivu alone.

"We are worried that aid workers are neglecting other regions" of the country, such as Sud-Kivu, Ituri and Haut-Vele in Orientale Province, Lambrechts said.

The humanitarian needs there "are perhaps more urgent than in Nord-Kivu," he said.

Between 50 000-60 000 people are currently displaced around Dungu, capital of Haut-Vele, following an attack at the beginning of November by Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army.

"The overview of Dungu is very weak as we cannot go beyond the city. The United Nations have declared this a red zone, where there is no access," Lambrechts said.

The eastern Congo region, which borders Sudan, Rwanda and Uganda, has been a hotbed of unrest where Congolese and foreign rebel groups as well as local militias have terrified local populations for the past 15 years.

- AFP