Kinshasa: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has successfully delivered essential relief supplies to the city of Beni, located in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This humanitarian effort comes as the region grapples with escalating violence between Rwanda-backed M23 rebel fighters and Congolese forces.
According to WFP, the trucks carrying life-saving items, including cereals, beans, and cooking oil, made their way from neighboring Uganda to warehouses in Beni. The relief supplies are expected to assist around 140,000 vulnerable individuals residing in Lubero territory, south of Butembo city.
The humanitarian situation in Lubero has significantly worsened, with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reporting that clashes on May 2 have forced approximately 30,000 people to flee their homes. The surge in violence is linked to the ongoing conflict between M23 rebels and Congolese government forces, a conflict that has plagued the mineral-rich region for years.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts continue, with peace talks between the DRC government and the M23 rebels taking place in Qatar. Despite previous commitments in April to pursue peace, the situation on the ground remains dire. Armed confrontations intensified earlier this year, with M23 fighters capturing the cities of Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, respectively.
The conflict has had devastating humanitarian consequences, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and claiming more than 7,000 lives. UN aid teams and their partners continue to provide life-saving assistance in the region but have condemned repeated incidents of looting at aid warehouses by armed groups, which have resulted in the destruction of critical supplies such as food and medicine.
With an estimated 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance across the DRC, the WFP and other humanitarian organizations are racing against time to deliver aid to those most affected by the conflict.
