UN development agency supporting reconciliation in Ituri

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) said Tuesday it would supplement a US $3-million Norwegian funded project in aid of reconciliation in Ituri, the war-torn district in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. "Its aim is to promote the return to a situation favourable to human development in Ituri," the UNDP office in Kinshasa, the capital, reported. It said some of its support would go "directly to reconciliation and peace-building activities". Other support will be given to improving bridges, schools or water sources. "A further part of the activity will go directly to income generating activities, when possible designed and managed by community groups," it added. UNDP said the first projects to be launched would be the rehabilitation of schools, repair of footbridges in towns and the creation of groups of peer-educators for HIV/AIDS prevention. The UNDP and the UN Office for Project Services opened an office in Bunia, the main city in Ituri, on 19 August with a mandate to support the reconciliation process with peace building and peace consolidation components set in motion by the Ituri Pacification Commission and backed now by the Interim Administration for Ituri.