2006 HUMANITARIAN ACTION PLAN LAUNCHED FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

2006 HUMANITARIAN ACTION PLAN LAUNCHED FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

BRUSSELS, 13 February (OCHA) -- The United Nations and the European Commission today launched the 2006 Democratic Republic of the Congo Humanitarian Action Plan, and are seeking $681 million (€571 million) to meet the needs of at least 30 million vulnerable Congolese.

On the occasion of the official launch of the 2006 Democratic Republic of the Congo Action Plan, the United Nations and the European Commission have convened a ministerial conference, hosted by the Government of Belgium, to bring together all of the actors who can help alleviate the suffering of the Congolese people.

“Each and every day, more than 1,200 people in DRC die from the lingering effects of civil war:  malnutrition, disease, and displacement.  We must end this tyranny of silence.  We can -- we must -- do more to alleviate such extreme suffering.  Now is the time to act”, said Jan Egeland, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

“ Congo has enormous potential that can be developed and boosted.  There are few places on Earth where the gap between humanitarian needs and available resources is as large as in Congo, but there are also few places in the world where peace and stability can so dramatically reverse this situation”, said Louis Michel, European Union Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid.

The scale of the crisis facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo is immense, and has in some way affected virtually all of the country’s 60 million inhabitants.  Over 4 million people have perished as a result of years of continuing conflict.  The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been called the most deadly humanitarian catastrophe in 60 years.  More than 1.6 million remain displaced, 200,000 are newly displaced in Katanga and North Kivu, and just under 1.7 million of recent returnees only now are starting to rebuild their homes and livelihoods.  Life expectancy dropped by 10 years since the beginning of the war in 1997.  In the troubled eastern provinces, killings, abductions, and sexual violence continue.  Humanitarian access in some areas remains a major challenge.

The 2006 Action Plan is the result of intensive work of the entire humanitarian community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  It includes more than 330 projects with a cost of $681 million.  The Plan presents a strategy that meets both urgent life-saving needs and reduces vulnerability, and looks beyond a one-year time frame, presenting a select number of highly focused targeted programmes that will help to accelerate recovery and poverty reduction in hard-hit areas in the country after the elections.  The Plan has been developed with the active participation of, and consultation with, the full range of partners in the Democratic Republic, including field-based donors, United Nations agencies and the non-governmental organization community.  The Plan addresses needs for food security, health, reintegration, protection, HIV/AIDS, coordination, education, water and sanitation, shelter, mine action and gender.

Last year, 25 million Congolese enthusiastically registered to vote, and in December overwhelmingly endorsed a constitution that forms the basis for a democratic State and opens the way to the first free and fair elections in over  40 years.

“We strongly believe the 2006 DRC Action Plan presents a clear and realistic plan to address the continuing humanitarian catastrophe in the DRC.  The time has come for a concerted and intensified effort to address humanitarian needs in the country and to give the Congolese people hope that a better future is within their grasp”, said Ross Mountain, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA- New York, tel: +1 917 367 5126, mobile: +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA- New York, tel: +1 917 367 9262; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, tel: +41 22 917 2653, mobile: +41 79 473 4570.  Website: www.rdc-humanitaire.net.

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For information media • not an official record