March 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The first humanitarian aid plane from the European Union for those displaced by the conflict in the Congolese province of North Kivu arrived late last Friday in the provincial capital, Goma, with 35 tons of basic necessities.
“This is the first flight and next week the next one will arrive,” assured the EU ambassador to the African country, Jean-Marc Châtaigner, during the reception of the plane, which arrived a week after the announcement of the initiative by Brussels, in comments collected by the Congolese portal Actualité.
North Kivu has been the scene of one of the most violent conflicts on the African continent today for months. There, the Congolese Army and the March 23 Movement rebel group, M23, have been waging heavy fighting that has left at least 800,000 displaced amid the impossibility of confirming the exact number of deaths.
In December, to give a tragic example, the Congolese government reported at least 300 civilians killed in a massacre in Kisishe alone, for which the M23 has denied any responsibility.
The European operation, with French backing as part of a Team Europe initiative, will bring humanitarian aid to the displaced, most of whom are in and around Goma, living poorly in subhuman conditions, in the form of food and medicine in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).