UN refugee and food agencies gear up relief efforts

Urgently needed relief supplies are being delivered to northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to where tens of thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) fled following a failed coup attempt launched on 28 May, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced Friday. An aircraft from the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) left Kinshasa Friday morning with 17 tonnes of relief items, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva. The items will be delivered to the DRC town of Zongo, where some 15,000 CAR refugees are occupying schools, churches and other public buildings. On Thursday, a UNHCR-chartered aircraft made several trips there, delivering tonnes of plastic sheeting, blankets, mats and jerry cans.

Zongo is about 1 km across the Ubangui river border from the CAR capital, Bangui. Up to 7,000 refugees also remain scattered across 20 villages along the DRC side of the Ubangui River, while another 3,000 to 4,000 are gathered in the DRC town of Libenge.