GENEVA, Switzerland, February 7, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — US Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Russell D. Feingold, US Ambassador to the DRC James Swan, and senior officials from the US Mission in Kinshasa have visited an IOM maritime training programme for the National Congolese Police (PNC) in the east of the country.
The US diplomats observed a speedboat training of ten PNC trainers organized by IOM and the Uruguayan Riverine Patrol Company (URPAC) in Bukavu-South Kivu province, supported by the United States Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
“This is an important initiative towards improving the security along DRC’s frontier with its eastern neighbors, and I am supportive of INL’s involvement,” said Special Envoy Feingold.
In addition to funding the training, INL has also paid for repairs to PNC boats used on the rivers and lakes that form the eastern DRC’s borders.
IOM has expressed its readiness to widen the scope of the project to build the capacity and equip 12 PNC river units comprising 280 trained marine police. The force would be deployed along all DRC river and lake frontiers as part of the DRC’s border management strategy for 2014-2017.
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