* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Written by Daniel Dickinson
It is not often that a mission order for travel to a humanitarian crisis includes "canoe rapide" as the mode of transport, but a river journey into one of the remotest parts of the north-west of the Republic of Congo promised just that.
I pictured a high-powered version of the wooden dug-out canoe or "pirogue" which is pretty much the only form of transport along the impoverished Ubangui river, a river which snakes through the Central Africa Republic (CAR) to the north and joins the Congo River north of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The "canoe rapide" was in fact a "Sunseeker" speed boat, with a 200 horse power outboard engine. The Sunseeker, which was originally built on the south coast of England, had seen better days. It was scuffed, bruised and dented from hours spent on the Ubangui river. Bits were falling off the control panel, the faux white leather upholstery was now cracked and splitting . It was loaded with eight humanitarian aid workers, including myself and an equal number of 25 litre jerry cans of fuel, as well as our luggage and a few vital supplies for the aid workers 240 kilometres up stream close to the border of CAR.
As we set off at very high speed, I wondered how this speedboat, now being operated by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) had made it to the Ubangi River. I imagined, in better days, it had played host to small parties of, well sun seekers, on the south coast of England or maybe in the Mediterranean; day-trippers for whom soaking up the sun would be the major task of the day.
My programme was not about relaxing, but visiting a handful of the approximately 90 refugee settlements which are dotted along a 500 km stretch of the heavily forested banks of the Republic of Congo side of the river. Around 108,000 refugees fled conflict on the other side of the river in the DRC last October and November. What began as a tribal quarrel about fishing rights has now spiralled into yet another localised militia-led conflict which has caused widespread displacement.
The refugees sought sanctuary and the help of the international community across the international boundary between the two countries on the other side of the river. For many it was a journey of just a few hundred metres.
As the Sunseeker powered up the Ubangi river covering a distance in four hours that on a local boat might take several days, the evidence of the mass displacement was everywhere. The white plastic sheeting handed out by UNHCR to provide shelter from rain dotted the river bank as kilometre after kilometre of green forest unravelled in front of me.
The remoteness, the lack of proper roads and the jungle-like nature of this part of central Africa means that access is only possible on a boat. The furthest the European Commission"s humanitarian air service, ECHO Flight, can reach is the city of Impfondo, from where the Sunseeker takes over. This lack of access makes the humanitarian relief effort both logistically challenging and extremely expensive.
As though to emphasise the logistical challenges faced by humanitarian workers in this part of central Africa, on the trip back to Impfondo the engine driving the Sunseeker broke down leaving us stranded in the middle of the river, miles from nowhere. Fortunately, a passing UNCHR barge and a sat phone meant averted a very long wait for rescue.
The engine will soon be repaired or replaced allowing the Sunseeker to once again provide crucial logistical support to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
