UN gives $5 million in aid for crisis-hit DR Congo region

The United Nations has announced aid worth $5 million to the violence-wracked Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The aid is to directly go to persons affected in the remote, central region who have been plagued by violence since mid-August when government forces killed a tribal chief and militia leader.

Some 400 people have been killed since September, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in DR Congo.

“Today, throughout the three (areas of) Kasai, we count 200,000 internally displaced people, 32,000 returned, and more than 400 dead, including 66 in the month of January alone,” OCHA said in a press release.

The $5 million grant, released through its Central Emergency Response Fund, will be for a maximum period of six months to save the lives of about 108,000 people.

“The majority of the affected population is still sheltering in places often located in the bush. These displaced people have no access to drinking water, nor to basic food or health services,” OCHA said.

The grant will be for a maximum period of six months and expected to save the lives of about 108,000 people.

Kasai is isolated and under-developed .

In February, a seven-minute video posted to social media, showed a massacre of unarmed men and women by Congolese soldiers.

The government subsequently called the video a “ridiculous montage,” rejecting international pressure to investigate. They however did a U-turn saying they will look into it.