KINSHASA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Around 23.4 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, nearly a quarter of the country's population, are facing crisis levels of hunger or worse, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said in a statement Friday.
The DRC's conflict-driven hunger crisis is worsening as violence in the eastern provinces surges, forcing families to flee again, said the WFP, which is struggling to feed those most in need, as humanitarian funding fails to keep pace.
With most civilians seeking refuge in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, the conflicts have led to food shortages and pushed food prices in Goma's markets out of reach for many, the WFP said.
On a recent visit to Goma, WFP's Executive Director Cindy McCain witnessed firsthand the horrors unfolding for millions affected by the conflict.
"The city of Goma is surrounded by tens of thousands of temporary shelters, and the numbers are growing every single day. The displaced people crammed into them urgently require food, clean water and sanitation. WFP needs the support of donors and partners to step up our response to this worsening crisis and provide badly needed assistance to people living in the camps before it's too late," said McCain.
In response, WFP has vastly expanded its emergency operations in the East, tripling the number of people it is reaching with food assistance from an average of 400,000 people in May 2023 to an average of 1.3 million people today.
The agency, however, warned of the lack of funds to keep the emergency response going.
According to the statement, the WFP requires 548.5 million U.S. dollars to sustain comprehensive operations in the DRC. Additionally, the UN agency needs at least 425 million dollars for the next six months to assist the most vulnerable in the eastern DRC, where conflicts have displaced nearly 1 million people since 2024. ■
