The victims of
the civil conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo have received
little support from the International Community including from our
ACT family. Currently however, the local churches working together
with Christian Aid are responding to some of the humanitarian needs
in the Eastern part of the country through the AFDC 01 appeal whose
financial cover is poor at 25%. However, DRC – Kisangani, one of the
most affected places by the war has received little support.
In June this year
Kisangani district in Eastern DRC was under severe military attack
as two foreign armies of Rwanda and Uganda engaged in a senseless
but relentless battle. In the wake, hundreds of innocent people were
killed, another estimated 3,000 were injured and thousands had to
flee their homes to the bush. For days corpses of the dead were left
rotting on the streets until the local Red Cross working with the
MSF decided to collect all the dead bodies for disposal. Thousands
of people still remain displaced to this day with little or no assistance
for basic survival needs.
Eglise Christ
Au Congo (ECC) an ACT member in Kisangani wishes to respond by providing
relief food and engage in nutritional programs, also in health by
providing medicines to the health centers. They are appealing for
US$100,000 to carry out these activities which will cover a population
of about 8,000 people. ECC has just completed implementation of another
program under the appeal AFDC91 and have already provided the final
report to the ACT Coordinating Office. Despite working under very
difficult conditions, ECC – Kisangani has shown their commitment to
assisting the victims in their area of operation. The Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) has indicated to the ACT Coordinating office, that
they would be willing to assist the ECC - Kisangani if the financial
response to the forth coming appeal would be favorable. LWF would
second two people to work with the ECC in the Kisangani program as
a way of enhancing their capacity.
The purpose of
this alert is to get the donors feelings of supporting an appeal for
Kisangani before putting out the actual appeal. Please let us know
as soon as possible whether you organization would be willing to contribute
to an appeal for Kisangani.
