Kisangani, 20 August 2011 – The humanitarian community in Province Orientale celebrated the United Nations' World Humanitarian Day in Kisangani, the provincial capital, on 19 August 2011. The Day is observed annually to promote public awareness about humanitarian services worldwide.

Several humanitarian organizations, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and other UN agencies mounted displays to showcase their respective activities and achievements.

The humanitarian situation in Province Orientale is characterized by numerous cases of violence perpetrated by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and other armed groups against civilians, particularly in the districts of Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele, in the northern Province Orientale. The area, which is also prone to epidemics, was hard hit by a recent cholera outbreak, which has also affected much of the country.

Pierre-José Bonyoma, Head of UNOCHA's Kisangani sub-office, noted that not only malaria was rampant in the health zones of Basoko and Yahuma, but cholera was raging in these areas as well. This year from January through July, he said, 494 cholera cases were recorded, 29 of them resulting in death. In the first week of August, the UN Office for Humanitarian Coordination has already recorded 12 cholera-related deaths.

As part of its assistance program for local populations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) undertook a complete rehabilitation of the General Hospital buildings in Opienge, Bafwansede territory.

One of the major problems that ICRC personnel often face in getting aid to the people is the lack of access roads. "A few months ago, ICRC had to resort to the use of a thousand bicycles to deliver 40 tones of food and non-food items to some 4,000 displaced families from Opienge. The distance to cover to deliver the assistance was over 110 km between Bafwasende and Opienge," said Arnaud de Baecque, head of the ICRC sub-delegation for Kisangani.

The legal and humanitarian advisor to the provincial Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Pétillon Muyambi, expressed the Government's gratitude to the humanitarian community for its unfettered support to the vulnerable populations.

Province Orientale currently has more than 4000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are exclusively dependent on humanitarian aid.

Dorcas Kanku, Radio Okapi/ MONUSCO