DR Congo aid operation reaches Beni with food supplies for thousands

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) stated that vehicles packed with cereals, beans and cooking oil reached town of Beni in North Kivu province from neighbouring Uganda, amid clashes between Rwanda-backed M23 insurgent fighters and Congolese forces.

Aid for 140,000

WFP stated that it intends to make use of the thousands of tonnes of reduction supplies transported to warehouses in Beni to assist round 140,000 individuals residing in Lubero territory, south of town of Butembo.

Violence escalated on 2 Might throughout Lubero territory, uprooting some 30,000 individuals, in response to the UN aid coordination workplace, OCHA.

The event comes amid ongoing peace talks in Qatar between the DRC Authorities and the M23 rebels. At earlier talks in April, each side pledged to work in the direction of peace.

Amid rampant insecurity brought on by proliferating armed teams, the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have been at warfare for years with the Congolese military and allied forces within the mineral-rich area. In 2021, negotiations between the group and Kinshasa collapsed.

January offensive

Hostilities ramped up in January this 12 months when M23 fighters captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province. A month later they seized Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu and threatened to take Kinshasa, on the opposite aspect of the massive nation.

Since then, ongoing preventing has induced mass displacement, killed greater than 7,000 individuals and fuelled fears of regional battle.

A complete of 21 million individuals want humanitarian help in DRC in the present day. UN aid groups and companions stay on the bottom to assist and have condemned the looting of aid warehouses by armed teams which have destroyed food and drugs.