PROJECTS: CONGO RIVER: DRC: 005_RIVER_031-copy

MALUKU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO APRIL 26: Unidentified passengers wait to disembark from a boat after traveling for seven weeks on April 26, 2006 in the port in Maluku, outside Kinshasa, Congo, DRC. About five hundred passengers traveled on the boat from Kisangani to Kinshasa, a distance of 1750 kilometers. These passengers spent seven weeks on a crowded boat with only two toilets and had to sleep among cargo, and share space with live animals such as pigs, goats, crocodiles, birds, lizards, snakes etc, The Congo River is a lifeline for millions of people, who depend on it for transport and trade. During the Mobuto era, big boats run by the state company ONATRA dominated the traffic on the river. These boats had cabins and restaurants etc. All the boats are now private and are mainly barges that transport goods. The crews sell tickets to passengers who travel in very bad conditions. The conditions on the boats often resemble conditions in a refugee camp. Congo is planning to hold general elections by July 2006, the first democratic elections in forty years. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson)

MALUKU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO APRIL 26: Unidentified passengers wait to disembark from a boat after traveling for seven weeks on April 26, 2006 in the port in Maluku, outside Kinshasa, Congo, DRC. About five hundred passengers traveled on the boat from Kisangani to Kinshasa, a distance of 1750 kilometers. These passengers spent seven weeks on a crowded boat with only two toilets and had to sleep among cargo, and share space with live animals such as pigs, goats, crocodiles, birds, lizards, snakes etc, The Congo River is a lifeline for millions of people, who depend on it for transport and trade. During the Mobuto era, big boats run by the state company ONATRA dominated the traffic on the river. These boats had cabins and restaurants etc. All the boats are now private and are mainly barges that transport goods. The crews sell tickets to passengers who travel in very bad conditions. The conditions on the boats often resemble conditions in a refugee camp. Congo is planning to hold general elections by July 2006, the first democratic elections in forty years. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson)