Vice-President announces US $27.5 million for North Kivu Province

A former leader of a major armed group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who is now a vice-president in the country’s transitional government, announced on Monday the clearance of a US $27.5-million allotment for North Kivu Province.

The money will go to rebuilding Goma’s infrastructure, which was damaged in the 2002 volcanic eruption of Mt Nyiragongo, in the east of the country. The infrastructure includes Goma’s street lighting, water supply, seven primary and secondary schools and the runway at the international airport, which is still partly covered with lava.

Of the funds allocated, $20 million will be spent on repairing the 750-km Kisangani-Beni road.

Bemba also visited the towns of Sake, Kichanga and Mwesso in the Masisi area near Goma, where there has recently been fighting between government soldiers and army dissidents. It was his first visit to the east in a decade and thousands of people greeted him.

"I have come to confirm that the authority of the state has been re-established across the country - and particularly in the province of North Kivu," said Jean-Pierre Bemba, former leader of the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo.

He was speaking to reporters in the provincial capital, Goma. The governor of the province, Eugène Serufuli, told IRIN that Bemba’s visit reassured all political groups in the country that the province was now safe for all of them.

"It’s the first time in 20 years that an official from the central government has visited Masisi," Alexis Makabuza, a local farmer and businessmen, said.

Some local politicians called Bemba’s visit a political ploy.

"Bemba is here to campaign for the presidential elections before the campaign has officially started," said Alphonse Kabamba, the local representative of President Joseph Kabila’s party, the Parti du peuple pour le rénouveau et le developpement.