The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is sounding the alarm as the ongoing violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) reaches devastating levels. Two years of cyclical conflict in the North Kivu territories of Rutshuru and Masisi have forced more than 1.3 million people to flee their homes within the DRC, resulting in a total of 5.7 million internally displaced people in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.
In total, more than 8 million people in the country have been forced to flee their homes. Of these, 7 million are internally displaced, making the DRC the second-largest internal displacement crisis in the world after Sudan.
Fighting between the Congolese army (FARDC) and the armed group Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) escalated in March 2022. Since then, the violence has been concentrated in the Rutshuru and Masisi territories, and most of the displaced people have fled to the Nyiragongo territory.
“I am deeply alarmed by the intensification of hostilities between M23 and the Congolese armed forces in North Kivu, which has compounded the suffering of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable civilians,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, in his latest report to the UN Security Council, which will be presented today.
"The conflict has brought the region perilously close to the brink of war," he added.
Protracted armed violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups continues to exacerbate humanitarian needs and cause large-scale displacement, including people forced to flee as a result of the resumption of hostilities between M23 and FARDC.
“Since violent clashes enveloped the town of Sake, in Masisi territory, on February 7, almost 300,000 people have arrived in the city of Goma and its surroundings, swelling spontaneous and official displacement sites as they desperately seek shelter from indiscriminate bombing and other human rights abuses,” UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said at a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
Humanitarian actors continue to provide humanitarian assistance, including food, health care, protection services, water and sanitation, and essential household items. But conditions are dire as the growing need for shelter, sanitation and livelihoods outstrips available resources.
“A further 85,000 people have fled the same violence and sought shelter in the Minova region of South Kivu. In January, the town of Minova already hosted over 156,000 displaced people, with the majority living in makeshift shelters,” Saltmarsh said.
Since October 2023, violent clashes between members of the M23, the FARDC and coalitions of armed groups in North Kivu have again intensified, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
UNHCR said the deeply disturbing trend of increased use of heavy artillery in the conflict continues, with reports of bombing of civilian sites in Minova. Reports of indiscriminate bombings in Sake and Goma in recent weeks, which have killed more than 30 people and injured at least 80, are also of concern, as is the threat of unexploded ordnance, it said.
The UN agency stressed the need to protect civilians and to preserve the civilian and humanitarian character of displacement sites.
Between December 2023 and March 19, 2024, 531 civilians were reportedly killed in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. The non-state armed groups Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and Coopérative pour le développement du Congo (CODECO) were responsible for most of the civilian killings, according to the UN.
Meanwhile, the latest reports from UNHCR teams on the ground are alarming.
“Families continue arriving at sites traumatized and exhausted by the attacks, scarred physically and psychologically. Many report being abused – some sexually – during their flight,” the UNHCR spokesperson said.
“New arrivals find refuge in makeshift shelters in overcrowded sites, in schools and churches, or with host families, stretching their meagre resources.”
Worryingly, humanitarian partners have observed systematic incursions by armed groups into civilian structures such as displacement sites, hospitals and health centers. In 2023, 25 schools were occupied by non-state armed groups in Masisi and Rutshuru territories alone, and a further 17 schools were attacked. In 2024, seven schools were destroyed by bombings.
Looting of medicines and essential supplies from health centers in recent weeks has further hampered the ability of humanitarians to assist displaced people. Hundreds of thousands of people have been identified as displaced behind front lines in Masisi, Rutshuru and Nyiragongo territories, cut off from aid.
The renewed violence has resulted in the displacement of many children, many of whom are now unaccompanied and vulnerable to grave risks and human rights abuses, including abduction, forced recruitment, mutilation and rape.
In 2023, in North Kivu alone, there were 50,159 reported cases of gender-based violence, more than half of which were rapes; 90 percent of these victims were women and girls, while 37 percent were children.
Outbreaks of cholera and measles continued to exacerbate the humanitarian situation, particularly in North and South Kivu.
As the violence continues and humanitarian access is further hampered, the risks to displaced people and civilians multiply.
UNHCR calls for an immediate end to the violence and urges all parties to the conflict to respect and uphold international humanitarian law and human rights, and to protect civilians.
A scaled-up humanitarian response in the eastern provinces between June and December reached more than 3.1 million people with life-saving assistance.
Despite the system-wide humanitarian scale-up, only 40 percent of the US$2.25 billion Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the DRC was funded in 2023, a sharp decline from 53 percent in 2022. The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for the DRC seeks US$ 2.6 billion to provide urgently needed assistance. As of March 27, the 2024 HRP was only 14 percent funded.
UNHCR said it remains deeply committed to assisting those affected in eastern DRC and urged concerted international action to address the crisis.
“The lack of funding threatens aid deliveries, exacerbating the region’s dire humanitarian crisis,” Saltmarsh stressed.
In his report, the UN Secretary-General also calls for urgent action and increased funding.
“The protracted, and largely neglected, humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo demands an urgent response from the international community,” Guterres said.
“The lack of funding is forcing humanitarian actors to restrict their assistance at a time of unprecedented needs. Funding must be increased to avoid such impossible choices.”
As violence rages in the eastern provinces, the conflict-related hunger crisis is worsening. With more people arriving in already overcrowded camps, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is struggling to feed those most in need as funding fails to keep pace.
WFP has greatly expanded its emergency operations in the eastern provinces - tripling the number of people it reaches with food assistance from an average of 400,000 in May 2023 to an average of 1.3 million in March 2024. However, the UN agency does not have the resources to sustain this emergency response.
About a quarter of the DRC's population - 23.4 million people - face crisis levels of hunger or worse. Many live in poor and overcrowded conditions with little or no access to food, health services and education.
The UN estimates that 25.4 million people will need humanitarian aid by 2024. This includes an estimated 14.9 million children. In the three eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, nearly 8 million women, men and children require humanitarian assistance.
Further information
Full text: UNHCR urges immediate action amid heightened risks for displaced in eastern DR Congo, UNHCR, press briefing notes, published March 26, 2024
https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-urges-immediate-action-amid-heightened-risks-displaced-eastern-dr-congo
Full text: Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, S/2024/251, March 21, 2024, submitted March 27, 2024
https://undocs.org/en/S/2024/251