The United Nations World Food Programme is scaling up life-saving assistance for people displaced by escalating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, with more than 210,000 of the most vulnerable individuals targeted for immediate support. Although some food supplies have already been pre-positioned in affected areas, WFP has warned that additional funding is urgently required to sustain assistance over the coming months.
Since fighting intensified in South Kivu in early December, an estimated 500,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, pushing basic services in the province to the brink of collapse. Health facilities have been looted, medicines are scarce, and schools remain closed, leaving hundreds of thousands of children without access to education. Displaced families and host communities alike are facing severe shortages of food, safe water, healthcare and livelihoods.
WFP has highlighted the growing risk of a deepening hunger crisis, noting that families already experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity are sharing limited resources with those who have been newly displaced. This situation is increasing pressure on both displaced people and host communities, heightening the risk of malnutrition and further humanitarian deterioration.
To address urgent needs, WFP plans to provide vulnerable households in South Kivu with essential food assistance, including staple foods and specialized nutrition support for young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women. These measures are intended to prevent a surge in malnutrition and stabilize food access during a period of acute displacement and insecurity.
The violence has also driven thousands of people across borders in search of safety and assistance. In neighbouring Burundi and Rwanda, WFP is providing emergency food and nutrition support to newly arrived refugees, including hot meals in transit centres and nutrition screening to identify and treat malnutrition.
WFP has warned that without immediate additional resources it will be unable to respond effectively to a crisis that is rapidly approaching catastrophic levels of hunger. Operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda are already severely underfunded, and substantial new financing is required to maintain humanitarian assistance and prevent further suffering across the region.
