AFRICA/CONGO BRAZZAVILLE - The diocesan Union of the Mother Superiors of Pointe-Noire intervenes to denounce critical water shortage

Tuesday, 20 June 2006

Brazzaville (Agenzia Fides) - Women Religious have raised their voices to denounce a critical water shortage in Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville according to a Brazzaville Catholic newspaper La Semaine Africaine.
The diocesan Union of the Mother Superiors of Pointe-Noire, the country’s economic pole and second largest city, presented the local authorities with a 20 page report on the water shortage.
The Catholic Sisters’ report, presented in the presence of the Bishop Jean-Claude Makaya Loemba, includes a request for at least 6 new wells and adequate protection against theft and damage of existing wells and other water structures.
At the long term level the religious say the situation can only be solved with the building of two more water-processing plants. The Sisters call on international donors to consider access to clean water the first condition for fighting poverty, as foreseen in many programme of bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
The diocesan Union of the Mother Superiors of Pointe-Noire calls on the oil companies present in Pointe-Noire to support local development programmes. Many international oil companies are in Pointe-Noire working off-shore oil deposits.
In the report the Sisters prove with documentation that in certain districts of the city water taps have been dry for decades. In other areas people collect water during the night, waiting patiently as it drips from the taps, to use by day. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2006 righe 28 parole 277)


Share: