The United States said on Wednesday it would provide nearly $414 million in humanitarian assistance for the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 25 million people need such aid, nearly a quarter of the country’s population.
According to a Reuters report, the US Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, Jeffrey Prescott, told Reuters a significant amount of that money would go to United Nations agencies and aid groups providing urgent food assistance, healthcare and nutrition support, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene.
“This funding also includes direct support (of) agricultural commodities from American farmers,” said Prescott, who will formally announce the aid in Kinshasa on Wednesday with US Ambassador to the DRC Lucy Tamlyn.
It takes total US funding for DRC since October to $838 million, said Prescott, who added that he hoped the US funding would encourage other countries to also “step up as well” and help DRC.
He further stated that the US will also provide $10 million for health assistance and donate 50,000 mpox vaccines.
Since 2022, Congo’s army has been battling insurgents, and renewed fighting in the country’s east has displaced over 1.7 million people from their homes.
