WFP urges unimpeded humanitarian access

WFP has appealed for safe and unimpeded access by humanitarian organisations to needy people in the DRC. In a news release, issued on Monday, it estimated that about one million people had been displaced by the conflict and many were still trapped in the country’s interior, cut off from humanitarian assistance. “We hope that the UN Security Council session on DRC will be fruitful and permit the establishment of safe corridors for the delivery, not only of relief supplies, but also of commercial food,” said WFP’s country director, Kees Tuinenburg. Agencies estimate that 10 million Congolese will be vulnerable to food shortages this year. “If we don’t receive new contributions, we’ll run out of food completely in May,” Tuinenburg warned. The news release added that WFP last week managed to create a fourth corridor in southeast DRC to deliver food aid by barge to the town of Kalemie, across Lake Tanganyika from Kigoma in western Tanzania.