UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (UPI) -- U.N. officials said Monday "an acute humanitarian crisis is in the making" in two southwestern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A U.N. spokesman said members of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported the situation on a visit last week to the area. There they said they found tens of thousands of Congolese civilians who had been expelled from neighboring Angola. They had been living and working illegally as manual laborers in Angola's diamond mines.
The OCHA officials visited Bandundu and Western Kasai provinces, which have poor transport links and many remote localities. The team found there was an urgent need for food supplies, clean water, better health care and transport assistance.
OCHA said aid agencies and officials from the DRC government estimated between 80,000 and 100,000 Congolese either have been or will be returning to the two provinces.
Since April 2, more than 40,000 people have returned to the Congo.
