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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: ICRC completes round of aid to war-weary Ikela

NAIROBI, 18 November 2003 (IRIN) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported on Monday that it had completed the delivery of a round of aid to some 25,000 people in the eastern part of Ikela, in Equateur Province, northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On Saturday, an ICRC-chartered Antonov 12 aircraft made the last of 10 return flights between Bukavu, in the east, and the airport of Bangboka, near Kisangani in the country’s northeast. The ICRC made two round trips per day, transporting in five days some 100 mt of supplies which included cloth for clothing, soap, kitchen utensils and blankets for distribution to over 4,800 families, or 25,000 people.

On arrival in Bangboka, the supplies were trucked to warehouses, to await onward transport to Opala by barge.

"The people of Ikela have been cut off by war for a long time," the ICRC said reported. "Even now, they will have to wait until the beginning of December, as access difficulties have made it necessary to set up a large and complex logistics system involving aircraft, barges and trucks, operating from the eastern and western parts of the country."

ICRC said another distribution of non-food items was planned for the second week of December.

It added that it was also providing primary health care centres in the region with medicine.

Meanwhile, an UN-led joint humanitarian assessment mission to Ikela was due to be completed on Tuesday, with a preliminary report due to be issued shortly thereafter.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Other

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