Baptist World Alliance, BWA News Release

Humanitarian crisis in Congo, BWA receives appeals for aid

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The Baptist World Alliance® (BWA) is responding to appeals for assistance from Baptists in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to a humanitarian crisis that has seen tens of thousands of Congolese fleeing their homes.

The United Nations Refugee Agency has reported that since April, its staff on the ground has witnessed tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes in North Kivu due to intense fighting between government forces and armed rebels. Many are seeking safety in neighboring countries such as Uganda and Rwanda, while others are looking for refuge in other parts of the DRC.

Baptists in the region told the BWA that conditions in camps housing displaced persons are deteriorating rapidly. Assistance from nongovernment organizations is not sufficient and there is urgent need for both medicine and food. “Many sick people are without help and sanitary conditions are not good,” the BWA was informed. “Among those dying most are children. Many people are going to die not because of hunger but because of sickness.”

The BWA, through Baptist World Aid, its relief and development agency, is appealing to Baptists to make donations to meet the urgent needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the DRC to assist with food, clothes and medicine in at least some of the eight IDP camps that have been established.

Donations may be made online at www.bwanet.org or sent to:
Baptist World Aid
405 North Washington Street
Falls Church, VA 22046
USA

Baptist World Alliance®

© August 20, 2012

The Baptist World Alliance, founded in 1905, is a fellowship of 266 conventions and unions in 134 countries and territories comprising 51 million baptized believers in 178,000 churches. For more than 100 years, the Baptist World Alliance has networked the Baptist family to impact the world for Christ with a commitment to strengthen worship, fellowship and unity; lead in mission and evangelism; respond to people in need through aid, relief, and community development; defend religious freedom, human rights, and justice; and advance theological reflection and leadership development.