WFP Appeals for Resources as it Reduces Food Assistance While Needs Rise in Eastern DRC – Democratic Republic of the Congo

HUMANITARIAN NEEDS

The number of people who need food in eastern DRC is sky-rocketing due to continual displacement from the spread of the M23 conflict and its wider impact on insecurity in the region. This coincides with the extreme flooding affecting people in South Kivu and Tanganyika. 1 million people have been directly displaced or re-displaced by the M23 crisis alone between September 2023 and April 2024.1 6.8 million people are displaced in eastern territories overall.2 Many more are affected by precarious security dynamics. Other non-state armed groups (such as the ADF, CODECO and Zaire), are escalating tensions and perpetrating atrocities across eastern DRC, while the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) mandate ends in South Kivu. Meanwhile, the rising levels of Lake Tanganyika and the basin of the Congo River and its tributaries are flooding families’ homes and livelihoods in eastern DRC.3

WFP RESPONSE

WFP needs USD 404 million to reach 1.5 million people each month for the next 6 months.

WFP is advocating for USD 404 million in new resources to support 1.5 million people with food, cash and nutrition assistance in eastern DRC in the coming six months. Available resources in 2024 so far have allowed WFP to reach only 1 million people per month. However due to severe resource limitations and gaps in the food supply pipeline, WFP is reducing its reach to 825,000 people only from April to June.

North Kivu

The majority of WFP activities this year took place in North Kivu in camps around Goma and Beni territory, driven by the continual displacement and growing humanitarian crisis from the M23 conflict. On average, WFP reached 550,000 people per month in the province during the first quarter of the year.

WFP’s cash, food and nutrition programmes cover both new arrivals and older caseloads. WFP has been registering new people regularly to fold them into the monthly emergency food response. In March 2024, WFP reached double the number of people it reached in March 2023 in North Kivu. However, the strain on resources has been growing.

Ituri

WFP has reached an average of 270,000 each month in the first quarter of 2024 in Ituri. This includes those displaced by intercommunal conflict or host communities affected by displacement, and around 50,000 refugees from South Sudan.

South Kivu

An average of 280,000 people were reached per month in South Kivu. This includes people affected by the M23 crisis arriving in and around the northern city of Minova, a number which is feared to grow in coming months. Needs in South Kivu are growing with the anticipated insecurity in the aftermath of the departure of the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) and the displacement caused by flooding and climate events.