Four-digit inflation forecast in Mbuji-Mayi

Rebel advances in Kasai Oriental province during 1999 cut off many of Mbuji-Mayi's supply lines, and the provincial capital was getting only about half of its basic food needs, an OCHA report stated. The majority of the city's 1.8 million residents faced a serious food crisis as a result of the war, and availability of the staple food cassava went down considerably because of the virtual rebel encirclement of nearby Kabinda,
the report said. Prices went up by 336 percent in 1999, and projections for the year 2000 indicated "four-digit inflation". The report cited Mbuji-Mayi's proximity to the war front and its strategic importance as a diamond-mining centre as factors contributing to its precarious situation, even by current DRC standards. Some 9,600 children working in mines were
among the particularly vulnerable people in the area, it said. The report added that very little humanitarian relief was available in Mbuji-Mayi because aid agencies were focusing more on Kabinda.