$7 million ECHO pledge eases food gap

Humanitarian sources have informed IRIN that the UN's country representative no longer sees any "food gap" in the country after WFP received a pledge from the European Community Humanitarian Officer (ECHO) for US $7 million worth of food. This represented half of the overall requirement of US $14 million outlined in the consolidated appeal. The food will assist some 200,000 people and should be sufficient until the end of the year. Meanwhile, in the southwest areas of Nkaye and Dolisie, the humanitarian community working with the government are preparing to set up humanitarian operations to assist returnees. An OCHA mission to the areas three weeks ago confirmed that local administrations still needed to be established in both towns. Some 10,000 of a total population of 80,000 people in Dolisie have returned so far. In Nkaye, roughly 30,000 of a population of 60,000 people have reportedly returned. Fighters reported moving through Loukolela UNHCR and humanitarian workers on the ground on Friday reported new movement of fighters along the border between the northern Republic of Congo and DRC. They reported groups of Congolese and Rwandan armed men passing through Loukolela, Republic of Congo, in recent weeks but said there had been no security incidents at the camp, set up in 1997, where approximately 2,600 Rwandan refugees remain. In all, between 5,000 and 7,000 Rwandans remain in Republic of Congo, a UNHCR report added. The agency would this week carry out a second mission further north to Impfondo, to determine if civilians were crossing over from Equateur province, DRC, it said, adding that an initial assessment two weeks ago had turned up no civilian arrivals.