Italian plane to pick up adopted children blocked in Congo

(ANSA) - Rome, May 26 - Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday approved a State airplane to airlift 31 children adopted by Italian families that have been held up for months in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). "I just gave the go-ahead: an airplane of the Italian state is leaving for the (Democratic Republic of the) Congo to bring back the adopted children blocked for months. #acasa," wrote Renzi on the social network Twitter.
    Twenty-four Italian couples have been unable to bring their adopted children home from the DRC despite having completed the adoption process due to lack of final clearance by Congolese authorities. The government in Kinshasa in September suspended permissions on all international adoptions out of suspicion of irregularities, but admitted that none of procedures in question concerned Italy.
    Former integration minister Cecile Kyenge, who was also in charge of international adoptions - and was herself DRC-born - in November went on mission to the country and garnered reassurances of a positive outcome. After continued standstill, however, the Italian government sent a delegation to the African country to try to unblock the situation, so far without success.