Reaffirming “the EU’s solidarity and support for the Congolese people”, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, announced on Monday 17 June that he wanted to release new humanitarian funding from the European Union.
“The EU will continue to provide humanitarian aid to the people who need it. (...) Last year, we released €100 million; this year, we started with €64 million and, in the last few days, I have decided to ask our budgetary authorities to approve a further €35 million, because the humanitarian situation has deteriorated”, Mr Lenarčič told the Congolese press after a meeting with the President, Félix Tshisekedi.
In Kinshasa, the two leaders discussed the “root causes” of the ongoing conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Armed violence involving the rebels of the ‘M23’ movement – supported, according to UN experts, by Rwanda – has intensified since the beginning of February (see EUROPE 13360/7), particularly in North Kivu, west of Goma, where a visit by Mr Lenarčič was also planned. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)