Kinshasa, November 5th, 2025 (CPA).- The European Union’s call for the reopening of Goma Airport (North Kivu), solely for a humanitarian corridor in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was reiterated by its Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region during a press briefing on Wednesday in Kinshasa. « I believe that all parties in the region, especially the DRC and Rwanda, both of which signed the Washington peace agreement, or the M23 and the DRC, in the context of negotiations in Doha, have very clear obligations with regard to the importance of alleviating the suffering of the population on the ground. It is extremely important that Goma airport be reopened, even on a small scale, » said Johan Borgstam.
Reporting on his missions over the past few months to several towns in the east of the country, notably Uvira in South Kivu province, the European ambassador deplored the poor living conditions of the populations affected by the Rwandan aggression, calling for urgent humanitarian action. “For me, what I take away from all these missions is that there is unfortunately a huge divide, a gap between diplomatic realities and processes on the one hand, and the reality on the ground, where people are suffering,” he reported, before emphasizing that opening this airport solely for humanitarian flights would bring relief to the population. « I would like to emphasize here that it is not the case that either the airport is closed or we have an airport open to international traffic, as was the case before the takeover of Goma. I believe that even if we contributed with a limited number of humanitarian flights, small planes, that in itself would be a way of sending a clear and concrete message to the populations concerned, » he explained, while recalling that the EU had managed to transport more than 500 tons of goods by organizing an airlift via micro-cities. The issue of reopening Goma airport for a humanitarian corridor was also raised by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Paris humanitarian conference for the Great Lakes region. This request was quickly rejected by delegates from the aggressor country, Rwanda, who saw no point in it. The Kinshasa government, for its part, promised to do everything in its power to reopen it. ACP/