Swiss aid to eastern Congo increased

Switzerland has given 1.2 million Swiss francs (US $903,478) to its partner organisations in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation reported on Tuesday. In a statement, the agency said part of the funds would be used by the Swiss section of Medecins sans Frontieres, an international medical NGO, to build and operate an emergency clinic in Bunia, the main town in Ituri District where recent inter-militia fighting had resulted in hundreds of deaths and the displacement of thousands of civilians. The Swiss Evangelical Alliance and the UN World Food Programme would also receive funds to help 60,000 displaced people in Beni, 150 km south of Bunia, the agency reported. It said Switzerland's decision to increase humanitarian aid followed reports of violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of the most basic human rights in the east, "where attacks on unarmed civilians, particularly sexual attacks on girls and women, and the violent uprooting of civilians have become a fixed element of the fighting". The agency said that humanitarian organisations in eastern Congo had reached the limits of their capabilities. "The human tragedy can be stopped only if the ongoing emergency aid programmes are accompanied by specific political, military and economic measures," it said.