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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System Date: 04 Nov 2008 Title: Ban appoints envoy as UN aid convoy reaches rebel-held town in DRC -------------------- Congo - A United Nations aid convoy has reached one of the major rebel-held towns in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The envoy is to provide urgent supplies to civilians trapped amid the fighting in the region, as United Nations officials led by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon continue efforts to broker a solution to the conflict. Mr Ban has appointed Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian President, to serve as his Special Envoy on the issue and to work with leaders in the region and the broader international community to end the crisis. "The conflict along the Rwandan and Congolese border has gone on too long, with catastrophic consequences. We need peace - an end to fighting so that the region's people can enjoy a measure of stability and prosperity." The Secretary General also said he was willing to travel anywhere to meet DRC President Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagame, leader of neighbouring Rwanda, later this week for talks aimed at defusing ethnic tensions in the eastern DRC. The region has remained highly volatile since the official end of the Congolese civil war early this decade. "Though they have not yet sat down face-to-face, Presidents Kagame and Kabila have begun a direct dialogue, along with their high-level technical teams. This is a promising development," said Mr Ban, who has spoken by telephone with both leaders and dozens of other senior officials in recent days. He emphasised that there can be no military solution. "I understand that the AU [African Union] President will also convene an urgent regional summit on this issue, in Nairobi or elsewhere in Africa, sometime soon this month." Deadly fighting in recent months across North Kivu province has forced an estimated 250 000 people to flee their homes, joining hundreds of thousands of other internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the region, and the clashes have even threatened Goma, the provincial capital and home to about 700 000 people. The UN aid convoy that reached Rutshuru, a town in North Kivu, carried first aid and basic medicines for local health-care centres as well as equipment to re-establish clean water supplies, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported. Blue helmets serving with the UN peacekeeping mission to the DRC (known as MONUC) escorted the convoy from Goma to Rutshuru, which is now held by the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), headed by former Congolese army general Laurent Nkunda. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that IDP camps visited by its staff in Rutshuru were almost deserted, with many shelters burned to the ground. Some camp residents are believed to have returned to their home villages, but the agency said it was unclear where all the other residents have gone. OCHA said "armed actors" have been circulating at two other UN camps for IDPs, each located about 10 kilometres north of Goma and now largely deserted because of panic among the residents. As IDPs have returned to camps around Goma, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been provided high-energy biscuits, water and medical supplies. But concerns remain high about the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, with 70 cases of cholera already recorded in camps, with the rainy season approaching. WFP's operations in nearby Uganda have also started pre-positioning 500 tons of food - enough to feed an estimated 30 000 people for a month - at key locations in case Congolese escaping the violence decide to travel that way. A similar process is taking place at the Nkamira transit centre in Gisenyi, which is just inside Rwanda. - BuaNews |
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