Valerie Amos, the top U.N. relief and humanitarian official, is visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo to assess the needs of people living in the country’s most conflict-affected regions.
“I have come to see for myself how the situation is evolving, how we can better respond to the needs of the people, and how we can support the Government in increasing its role in the response,” Amos said March 8 upon arriving in the African country, as quoted by the U.N. News Center.
Meantime, in Washington, D.C., U.S. movie personality and philanthropist Ben Affleck appealed to the U.S. Congress to increase the country’s foreign aid to DRC.
“In this time of heightened concern over federal spending some suggest that austerity demands we turn a blind eye to the crisis in Congo,” ABC News quotes Affleck’s testimony before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, global health and human rights. “I believe nothing could be more misguided. It would simply be a penny wise and a pound foolish to allow the Congo to again fall into a state of crisis or further humanitarian chaos.”
Affleck is the founder of Eastern Congo Initiative, which helps build schools and bring medical care to sexual abuse victims in the African country.
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