DRC: MONUC to light up parts of Kalemie

NAIROBI, 18 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - Lights may blaze again soon in parts Kalemie town, eastern Congo, which have been deprived of electricity for the past 13 years, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) reported on Wednesday.

This is because MONUC donated to the town on Wednesday three power transformers collectively worth some US $13,000. It was channelled through MONUC's Quick Impacts Programme and received by local officials in a brief ceremony at the town's MONUC headquarters.

The officials at the ceremony were the assistant district commissioner in charge of administration, Modeste Kabazi; the district director of state power company, SNEL, branch in Kalemie, Basele Ekofamba; and the coordinator of the Civil Society of Tanganyika, known as SOCITANG, Fidel Muteba Sangwa.

MONUC said its gesture was in response to a request by SOCITANG. It asked MONUC for help in 2004 after a breakdown at the Bandera Dam that supplies power to the town.

Sangwa said the transformers were a great relief to the deprived communities and would help reduce insecurity. MONUC said with the restoration of electricity, women would no longer have to travel long distances in search of corn mills to grind maze and cassava for their daily meals. MONUC also said waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever were also likely to be reduced.

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