14 January 2013 - For many years, people and small animals crossing the runway have been a constant source of insecurity for aircrafts taking off and landing at Goma airport. To put an end to this situation and in an attempt to step up the security in the vicinity of the runway, the Congolese government called on MONUSCO for assistance. This came in the form of a technical and financial support to build an 8-kilometer barbed wire fence to secure this vital and strategic infrastructure in the Nord-Kivu province. The supervision will be done by the DRC Civil Aviation Authority (RVA). The total cost for the project amounts to roughly one million six hundred thousand dollars.

MONUSCO hired a South African company specialized in cleaning up hard-to-access spaces for the work which began three weeks ago. Tons of wastes from the 2002 volcanic eruption, grass, aircrafts wreckages and vehicles abandoned in the vicinity must be removed.

On its side the Civil aviation Authority is also making noticeable contributions in the form of loose stones and sand to speed up the construction. The project will be implemented in several phases, the first consisting in the building of a 2-km fence along the main road.

For MONUSCO which also uses the runway for its aircrafts' landing and taking off, "It is a useful investment for ensuring its aircraft safety became a real Chinese puzzle," said Alexandre Essomé, the Mission's head of Public Information/Goma.