Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 3rd Feb. Pope Francis on Thursday delivered his message of hope and solidarity on three day visit to the people of DRC, which the UN humanitarians warned that aid agencies face growing demands and loosing funds in DRC the Africa’s biggest hunger crisis.
WFP said that millions of Congolese face severe food insecurity in the northeast, where fighting has uprooted millions of people.
Pope is expected to meet families displaced by conflict in the east.
WFP warned half a million uprooted from their homes in recent months.
UN agency has appealed to the international community for more than $627 million, to fund vital humanitarian assistance this year.
Pope Francis urged young Congolese to work for a better future and shun corruption, his Italian remarks translated into French for those gathered at the 80,000-capacity Martyrs’ stadium in Kinshasa.
“You are part of a greater history, one that calls you to take an active role as a builder of communion, a champion of fraternity, an indomitable dreamer of a more united world,” the pontiff said.
He urged those listening to never succumb “to the persuasive but poisonous temptations of corruption”.
WFP reached 5.4 million of the most vulnerable people in DR Congo with food and nutrition aid, focusing on conflict-hit women and children in 2022.
The agency said that needs are vast in the central African nation, where over 26 million people face severe hunger more than a quarter of its total population.
WFP DRC Country Director and Representative Peter Musoko said “I have seen first-hand that this country has so much potential to produce food for its people and give jobs to youth,”
He expressed hope that the Pope’s visit will help to highlight the plight of millions of hungry people in the Central African nation, for whom WFP is sometimes “the only backstop against catastrophic food insecurity”.
Mr. Musoko said “with an ongoing emergency and limited resources we are appealing to the international community for $627.3 million in 2023,”.
The agency noted that some displaced by violence in DR Congo’s northeast have found and assistance from WFP and partners, with shelter at the makeshift Kanyaruchinya camp, outside the provincial capital, Goma.
