The United States has announced $424 million in aid and humanitarian assistance to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is facing disaster as a result of armed violence in the east of the country.
Plagued by armed violence for 30 years, the eastern Congo – particularly the province of North Kivu – has been experiencing a crisis since November 2021, with the resurgence of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by Lucy Tamlyn, US ambassador to the DRC, and Jeffrey Prescott, US representative to the UN food and agriculture agencies, while on a visit to the DRC.
According to the press release from the US Embassy, $414 million of this package will be allocated to "humanitarian assistance".
USAID posted on X: "This additional assistance will enable @usaidsaveslives partners to to provide urgent food assistance, healthcare, nutritional support, shelter materials and water, sanitation and hygiene services to communities affected by the crisis in the DRC".
Over 7 million displaced by violence
In the space of two and a half years, the M23 has seized vast swathes of territory, going so far as to almost completely encircle Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, to which hundreds of thousands of displaced people have flocked.
There are at least 7.3 million displaced persons in the DRC, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The remaining $10 million is earmarked for "health assistance" to respond to the current outbreak of the mpox virus in the DRC and other affected countries in the region, according to the statement.
The US Agency for International Development is also donating 50,000 mpox vaccines to the DRC, the country most affected by the epidemic, it added.
As of 3 August, the African Union's health agency counted 14,479 confirmed and suspected cases and 455 deaths in the country, representing a case-fatality rate of around 3 percent.
