UN hopes to fly relief to Kindamba

A United Nations emergency relief aid operation for 2,000 people in the town of Kindamba, in the Pool region of the Republic of Congo, is due to begin on Saturday, the UN Coordination Unit in Brazzaville reported.

"We are still waiting for written authorisation for tomorrow, although only technical things seem to be holding it up. We are very confident we'll be able to go," a UN official said on Friday.

The UN hopes to fly aid into the town until the road leading to it is made secure. Emergency aid teams will conduct full-day missions for the "coming months", but will not leave personnel on the ground overnight until security improves.

The mission, designed to relieve the present population within the city, will be expanded to cater for more people as they emerge from hiding in nearby forests, the coordination unit reported.

Its brief is to coordinate and discuss with authorities an assistance strategy, and the return of city residents to their homes. UN field security will ensure the security of ground personnel. A six-member medical team will distribute non-food items, vaccinate children, provide trauma counselling, reproductive health aid, and evaluate the nutritional and epidemiological situation.

There will also be a four-member team to distribute 7.7 mt of World Food Programme food rations for 10 days to the 2,000 displaced. A team of three will assess housing, water and sanitation needs and install temporary latrines as a matter of priority.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator William Paton described the impending delivery of aid as a very welcome development. Since 31 March, aid agencies have had no access to the town, in which normally 16,000 reside, due to fighting between government troops and so-called Ninja militia, sympathetic to former Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas, who has been convicted in absentia for crimes committed during the nation's civil war.