UN aid agencies are facing challenges in accessing provinces overtaken by M23 rebel fighters, who are allegedly backed by Rwanda, despite Kigali’s denials of military support. Funding shortages for humanitarian efforts have exacerbated the crisis.
Reestablishing air access could ease assistance delivery, according to WFP. Cynthia Jones, WFP’s Country Director for DRC, emphasized the urgency of setting up a humanitarian air corridor, as two airports in M23-controlled regions have been shut since January.
A report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification platform warns nearly 25 million people in the area are facing high levels of food insecurity, designated IPC3 on a scale where five indicates famine.
Alarmingly, three million individuals are experiencing “emergency” hunger levels – IPC4 – a figure that has nearly doubled since last year, according to Ms. Jones.
“For families, this means skipping meals, depleting household assets, and selling off animals,” she explained via video from Kinshasa to journalists in Geneva.
The UN agency indicates “people are already dying of hunger” in parts of eastern DR Congo.
Ongoing clashes between M23 militants and DRC government forces have led to fresh displacement, with people repeatedly forced from their homes.
Eastern DR Congo now has about 5.2 million displaced people, including 1.6 million displaced this year, making it one of the world’s largest displacement crises, added the WFP official.
Despite increasing hunger, funding for humanitarian efforts is dwindling, forcing the UN agency to cut assistance from around one million people at the year’s start to 600,000 now.
Ms. Jones appealed for $350 million to sustain emergency food and nutrition aid over the next six months, warning, “We will only be able to support a fraction of those in need.” Without it, assistance could be reduced further to 300,000 people – merely 10% of the three million in need.
The WFP cautioned that a “total pipeline break” in aid could occur by March 2026.
This would mean a complete stop of emergency food aid in the eastern provinces.
The funding crisis is affecting the agency internally, leading to downtown office closures and staff reductions, Ms. Jones explained, while trying to maintain operational capacity in a complex environment.
Despite these challenges, aid remains crucial for displaced individuals in eastern provinces like North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika, where vital services have shut amid ongoing insecurity.
“Banks are closed, money is unavailable, impacting the population and humanitarian response significantly,” Ms. Jones said. “It has devastated livelihoods, severely endangering the food security of affected individuals.”
As conflict persists, families seek refuge in urban centers like Ituri, where host communities struggle to cope. Additionally, millions of subsistence farmers, displaced or too afraid to access their land, missed the planting season this year.
“Women, children, and men are enduring severe consequences of violence by non-state armed groups, fleeing conflict, and in dire need of peace,” Ms. Jones emphasized.
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