UK asks for aid for the Congo

by Amy Judd | November 1, 2008 at 03:04 pm

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UPDATE: 8:35PM PST

The UN is going to send a supply of food and aid into the Congo.

The convoy is to leave the city of Goma and move into territory controlled by renegade Gen Laurent Nkunda's forces.

The UK has said the need for aid to the Congo is 'absolutely pressing' as tens of thousands of people have been displaced by fighting in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said establishing an aid corridor to the city of Goma was a top priority, after visiting with his French counterpart.

Mr Miliband said the 850 UN soldiers in Goma needed to be reinforced with those deployed in other parts of the country.

He and Bernard Kouchner later flew to Rwanda to meet President Paul Kagame.

The two ministers earlier held talks with Congolese President Joseph Kabila in the capital, Kinshasa, as part of efforts to end the crisis.

See a detailed map of the area
Afterwards, they urged the full implementation of peace agreements between Congo and Rwanda, and the disarming of militias.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, has meanwhile said that her country is in favour of an EU force being deployed to help the overstretched UN mission, Monuc.

"An outside force... could come to provide humanitarian assistance to protect access to the civilian population so the humanitarian workers could serve them," she said after meeting Rwanda's president.

The British and French foreign ministers have flown together to the Congo to see the extent of the crisis for themselves, and the thousands of people that have fled the fighting.

As reported yesterday, the endangered Mountain Gorillas are also in danger from the fighting.