The United States said on Wednesday it will provide nearly $414 million in humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Democratic Republic of Congo In which more than 25 million people need such aid, equivalent to about a quarter of the country’s population.
Reuters quoted the US ambassador to the agencies as saying: United nations Geoffrey Prescott said a significant amount of the money would go to UN agencies and relief organizations providing emergency food assistance, and to support health care, nutrition, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene.
“This funding also includes direct support for agricultural commodities from American farmers,” Prescott added. Prescott is scheduled to formally announce the aid in Kinshasa later today with U.S. Ambassador to the DRC Lucy Tamlyn.
This brings the total US funding for Congo since last October to $838 million, Prescott said, expressing hope that the US funding would encourage other countries to “also participate” and help Congo.
He explained that the United States will also provide $10 million in health aid and will donate about 50,000 vaccines to prevent monkeypox.
Since 2022, the Congolese army has been fighting against the M23 rebels, and renewed fighting in the east of the country has displaced more than 1.7 million people from their homes, bringing the total number of people displaced by multiple conflicts in the country to a record 7.2 million, according to UN estimates.
The United Nations’ $2.6 billion aid appeal for the Democratic Republic of Congo this year has received only a third of funding, and the World Health Organization warned last month that more than a million children are at risk of severe malnutrition in the Congo.
The current monkeypox outbreak in Congo has already infected about 27,000 people and killed more than 1,100, mostly children, since the beginning of 2023.
