Brussels, 30/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission considers the humanitarian situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the population of Goma (North-Kivu) is fleeing tens of thousands of armed rebels under General Laurent Nkunda, is “critical”. On Thursday 30 October, at the time of a fragile ceasefire, it therefore decided to release emergency humanitarian aid of €4 million to assist the displaced civilians.
“Since fighting resumed in August 2008, at least 250 000 people have had to leave their homes. The population of Goma is fleeing towards Bukavu (South Kivu). Most humanitarian agencies have had to fall back to Rwanda. A Commission humanitarian expert is still present in Goma and the humanitarian evacuation 'Echoflights' are continuing and may be intensified if necessary”, John Clancy, the spokesman for Louis Michel, European Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, told the press.
Louis Michel is currently in DRC (EUROPE 9772) to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground and to have political discussions with President Josef Kabila, the ministers of the new government, Alan Doss, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in DRC and Head of MONUC (United Nations Mission in DRC), and “no doubt also with the heads of state of the region”, the Commissioner announced on 29 October when arriving that evening in Kinshasa. “The aim is to be useful because I believe the international community cannot loose the benefit of the investment made to help Congo stabilise. Congo is today a democracy (…) and it is necessary to help the Congo at all costs in the problems that it encounters and mainly regarding instability in the east. I am not personally thinking of a military option but rather of a diplomatic solution and of a political solution”, the European Commissioner said in a declaration made on the tarmac of Kinshasa Airport, and broadcast by the European Commission on the EBS channel on 30 October. This was Louis Michel's response to the military solution recommended by Bernard Kouchner, French Foreign Minister, in support of the MONUC peacekeepers. (A.N./transl.jl)