The UN world food programme is asking the Democratic Republic of Congo to waive $9 million in ‘administrative fees’ the organisation had paid to the government to reach thousands of people in need of food aid.
“if you take that $9 million and I‘m feeding people at 31 cents a day, you can do the math – that’s 75,000 people, give or take, that we can feed in an entire year,” he said.
According to Beasley, “this country is destabilising and it needs attention because if we don’t give the attention now it could impact the entire region,”
Congo still has about 600,000 children on the brink of starvation and 7.7 million severely malnourished people, although many people have started going home, Beasley said.
While visiting Kasai, he said he saw horror in the eyes of women and children as they told of beheadings and brutality.
“The Kasai region, it was rather appalling, in ways that are truly hard to explain, in ways you actually don’t want to explain,” he said.
Beasley said he met President Joseph Kabila and explained that the trust of aid donors needed to be rebuilt and that the government must provide access, safety and visas.
“He gave me his assurances that he would do everything possible to address any and all needs that we brought to his attention,” Beasley said.
Asked about the $9 million, government spokesman Lambert Mende said: “that’s the first time I’ve heard of anything like that.”
“We know that we have humanitarian needs because many people (in Kasai) are returning to their homes and we are working with our partners on that,” Mende said.
The conflict in Kasai region turned Congo into the world’s biggest displacement crisis this year.
