NGO coalition aids 1,100 families in Uvira region

A coalition of Christian NGOs has provided some 20 mt of non-food items for 1,100 families in Kiliba (Ruzizi Plain), Katobo, Kahololo (Moyen Plateau) and Uvira town, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Eben-Ezer Ministry International, a local charity, told IRIN on Tuesday. Eben-Ezer Executive Secretary Lazare Rukundwa said that his agency, together with The Netherlands United Protestant Churches (ACT/Netherlands), delivered clothing, blankets, kitchen tools, soap and hoes on 4 and 5 September to internally displaced persons, other vulnerable populations and recent returnees from refugee camps in neighbouring Burundi. Eben-Ezer called upon other humanitarian agencies to mobilise support for the region, as many people were retuning to their villages following recent political developments in the country and relative calm in the area around Uvira. "There are some other localities that need urgent intervention like Fizi, Minembwe and Mwenga Territories," Rukundwa told IRIN. "Although Minembwe is still not accessible to humanitarian agencies, there are some good signs that in the future this will be possible because soldiers of the former rebel movement RCD [RCD-Goma, Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie, now a party to the national transitional government] are in dialogue with those led by Commandant Masunzu and Mayi-Mayi [local militias] in the area." Rukundwa added that the route from Uvira to Baraka was accessible for humanitarian agancies interested in helping people in Baraka and its environs.