Aid for 41,000 facing hunger in Kisangani

A barge transporting 1,231 mt of food supplies from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) left Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on Tuesday bound for the northeastern city of Kisangani, where 41,000 people are threatened by famine. According to WFP, this consignment should satisfy the food requirements of the most needy residents of this city, which has served as a primary theatre of armed confrontation over the past several years between the armies of Rwanda and Uganda as well as the rebel factions each of those countries has supported. The meager supple of food to local food markets is the direct result of armed conflict, according to WFP. Although Kisangani and surrounding Orientale Province are among the most fertile regions of the DRC, agricultural activity has been brought to a near standstill during more than four years of war and insecurity. "This is an important step for a population threatened by malnutrition and illness," said Felix Bamezon, WFP representative in DRC, as the barge was leaving the port. WFP has targeted 4,600 malnourished people, primarily pregnant and lactating women and children under five years old. "The war has had a devastating effect in the region, causing the displacement of thousands of people from Kisangani towards Equateur Province [to the west]," Bamezon said. "Those who chose to stay in Kisangani have gone through some very difficult times." The WFP cargo includes maize, vegetables, corn-soya blend, vegetable oil, salt, and sugar. These will also be distributed through food-for-work and food-for-training, under which families in need will receive food in exchange for their participation in training programmes or projects for the reconstruction of community infrastructure. "Thanks to our food-for-work activities, we hope to contribute to the revitalisation of the agricultural sector and the reconstruction of roads in order to improve access to food," Bamezon said. WFP had suspended its operations in Kisangani in April 2001 due to lack of access via river, road, or railway. It has been able to resume its activities because of the availability of resources from within the organisation and the reopening of the Congo River to navigation. A study by international relief NGO Lutheran World Relief in July found that an average of 20 percent of children under five years of age were suffering some degree of malnutrition. WFP has said that the purchasing power of the local population is very week. The barge will take three weeks to reach Kisangani by way of the Congo River. It is the first of a series of four food aid convoys due to travel to Kisangani until December 2003. The next humanitarian barge bound for Kisangani is scheduled to leave Kinshasa in 10 weeks. WFP aims to reach a target population of 1.4 million people for food aid across the DRC through offices in the capital, and in the provinces of Bas-Congo, Bandundu, Equateur, North and South Kivu, Katanga, and Orientale.