UN “peace boat” leaves with humanitarian supplies

Along with the WFP-chartered barge, the UN peace barge “Boboto” left Kinshasa Tuesday carrying 650 mt of humanitarian supplies bound for Mogalo (on the Lua river, a tributary of the Ubangui) in Equateur province of northern DRC, some 1,250 km from Kinshasa, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) announced. The boats will be accompanied by peacekeeping troops from the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC). The supplies include medicine and medical supplies, fuel, food, school supplies, construction material, clothing, and seeds and tools, purchased with contributions from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Office (ECHO), Belgium, France, numerous UN agencies (MONUC, OCHA, UNICEF, WFP, and FAO) and the international NGO MEMISA/Belgium. The distribution of goods to local populations will be coordinated by the Centre de developpement integre (Centre for Integrated Development) network, based in Bwamanda, as well as by various religious organisations. The “Boboto” will return to Kinshasa, which is suffering from a shortage of food, with a cargo of 1,000 mt of corn, purchased by the European Union (EU) for populations in need. According to OCHA, future projects of this kind are foreseen in anticipation of a complete return of free navigation of the vast riverine network of the DRC.