International aid agency Oxfam are planning to help nearly
100,000 displaced people in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.Jane Cocking, Oxfam’s humanitarian
director, said:“Oxfam have over 40 staff still in Goma and we are working in four camps near to the town. We are already providing water to 65,000 people in those four camps, and despite
the fighting that water is still flowing. We are looking at opening another two camps and helping an additional 30,000 people.“Many people have fled the fighting to the Kanyabayonga
region to the north of Goma. Oxfam are trucking water into this region and assessing the situation.“We chose to evacuate five international staff who are just over the border in Rwanda,
where they are keeping a close eye on the situation. They will hopefully return to Goma on Saturday morning.”Regarding UK foreign secretary David Miliband’s visit to the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Ms Cocking said:“We welcome this high-level attention to the current crisis. We call on Mr Miliband to do all he can to bring the fighting to an end. The United
Nation’s peace-keeping force urgently needs strengthening so it can protect civilians and ensure aid gets to the people who desperately need it.”Oxfam’s Godefroid Marhegane
is in Goma: “A lot of people are displaced and living in the suburbs in very harsh conditions, and the fighting is making those conditions even worse because there’s no access for
humanitarian workers.“They desperately need water, food and shelter. There’s no health care or medicines. People are living in the open air, and if they do get a little food
it’s not enough to feed the whole family.”Celebrity photographer Rankin recently visited
the camps outside Goma with Oxfam to take photos of the ordinary people whose lives are affected by the conflict. He said:‘The level of suffering there is horrendous. Despite the
suffering that they have been through the people of Congo are just like us and need our help.”/ends More from the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A U.N. peacekeeper from Uruguay patrols the streets of Goma, October 31, 2008. Thousands of Congolese civilians displaced by a rebel attack streamed out of an eastern city on Friday to ...
