"Widely publicized armed convoys of relief assistance to Goma and Rutshuru are an inadequate response to the humanitarian crisis facing the RDC’s troubled North Kivu region," says international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). "Armed aid convoys may aim to improve access for humanitarian groups, but they actually risk reducing access to the populations in danger," says Anne Taylor, an MSF Head of Mission in Goma. "There is a risk of aid being manipulated by political or military actors and of humanitarian actors being seen as parties to the conflict." Military-escorted aid convoys also risk blurring the line between humanitarian assistance and political-military action. MSF stresses the need to maintain this crucial distinction in the volatile Kivu region. "MSF is negotiating with all warring parties to gain access to populations in danger and assist them with free quality medical care," continues Anne Taylor. "Thanks to our neutrality, MSF teams can go where people need our assistance and not where we are instructed to go."
