Emergency Relief Coordinator arrives in DR Congo on first leg of African mission

(Kinshasa and New York: 5 September 2006): United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland today arrived in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the first leg of an eight-day, three-nation mission to Africa. Other stops on his mission are expected to include Uganda and Juba, Sudan.
Addressing representatives of United Nations agencies working in the country, Mr. Egeland stressed that the humanitarian community is making progress in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, saving more lives per dollar than in any other place we work. He cited the large number of displaced persons who have returned to their homes since the beginning of the year as a sign of hope. Mr. Egeland said the Democratic Republic of the Congo represents a unique challenge for the aid community given its huge size, complexity, and the enormous number of unmet humanitarian needs. "We must stay the course. We are engaged in a humanitarian marathon here in the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

Mr. Egeland said he had a key message, which he will deliver to the national authorities: "The culture of impunity has to end." Violence poses an ongoing threat to untold numbers of Congolese, particularly in the strife-torn eastern provinces.

During the course of the day, Mr. Egeland held meetings with the United Nations Special Representative to the Secretary General, the United Nations country team, heads of United Nations agencies, donors, and the staff of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Mr. Egeland is expected to travel to the country's southernmost province of Katanga tomorrow, where he intends to visit IDP camps as well as some of the towns that have been seriously affected by the conflict that has beset the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo throughout the past decade.

For further information, please call: Maimouna Mills, OCHA-DRC, +243 819 889 191; Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 9262; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570. OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int.