More displaced people, murder, sexual abuse, and hunger: The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is quietly getting worse

“I am a displaced woman and every day I live a battle to survive.” Shukuru (not her real name) is 25 years old and her face is marked by suffering. She shares her story with surprising strength from one of the farthest corners of the Bulengo displaced persons camp, west of the city of Goma. More than 36,000 families live here. That totals more than 180,000 displaced people living in very difficult conditions, often in small huts built in a hurry, with flimsy materials, such as pieces of wood, tin, and tarpaulins. But among its dirt streets you can also hear determination in the voices of many people who have lost everything due to the war and the humanitarian crisis being created by the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“I am especially concerned about safety. Being in a camp like this exposes women to many types of violence, and unfortunately I have been a victim,” Shukuru states, her voice unwavering. This young woman lived in the city of Rubaya, and fled from the M23 rebel group after losing her family in the fighting. Once in the countryside, she was raped by strangers who knew she was alone in a tent and as a result of the assault she became pregnant. The baby is due next month.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is experiencing one of the continent’s largest internal displacement crises, with 6.9 million people forced to leave their homes, primarily due to conflict in the east. Since October 2022, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 1.6 million people have been displaced.

At the beginning of February, fighting resumed about 15 miles from the city of Sake, in the province of North Kivu. Since then, there has been a new and significant movement of refugees towards the already overcrowded displaced persons camps. According to UNICEF figures, more than 214,000 people have joined the 500,000 who were already displaced in camps such as Bulengo, near the city of Goma.

Vincent Ndahayo, another camp resident, is also silent about the horror he has suffered and continues to suffer. For him, the international community urgently needs to “do something.” “This humanitarian crisis has plunged millions of people into misery and despair. We need urgent help, especially in terms of security, food, and health,” he insists. Ndahayo lived with his family in the town of Masisi, North Kivu, and made a living raising cattle, selling their milk, and making cheese. Today, he sleeps outdoors because he prefers to leave the small, ramshackle cabin that he has managed to build for his wife and six children.

The rebel offensive launched in 2022 by the M23 group has meant the reactivation of an old conflict that began in the late 1990s and that never became extinct. According to the Congolese government, the majority Tutsi group is financed by Rwanda, which is an accusation denied by the authorities in Kigali. In addition, efforts by an international force from other countries in the region to find a peaceful outcome have been insufficient.

“I’d rather go back”

These days, the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that “the escalation of violence and clashes is taking a heavy toll on innocent civilians” and maintained that it has received reports of murders, kidnappings, and the destruction of people’s homes.

“The fighting has further aggravated an already serious humanitarian situation,” said Bintou Keita, special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General in the country and head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO).

In the Bulengo camp there are lots of children. Some are with their parents, others have lost their loved ones in the war and wander around the camp alone or have been taken in by neighbors and acquaintances. Each family has built a shelter as best they could and struggles every day to get food and drinking water. Clean water is especially scarce, as it requires installing distribution points.

“Staying here is a permanent challenge,” Marie Jeanne Mupfuni confirms with an extremely tired look. “We live in a small shack made of wood and sheet metal. Life here is precarious, especially when it rains, because water enters the cabin and we cannot keep our things dry,” she says. “And if it rains at night, we have to get up and try to protect the mat we sleep on so that it doesn’t get soaked with water. I’m tired of this life. I’d rather return to my town than endure all this. If the Congolese authorities can’t find a solution to our problem, I’d prefer to return,” she says.

At her side, Jean Neti, a 20-year-old young man, looks even more resigned to the situation. “We are totally dependent on humanitarian aid to survive, because without it we would have no food or shelter, but even with this assistance, life is still very hard. We often go without food, and drinking water is scarce,” he explains. Despite everything, the young man assures us that he prefers the countryside to his town, where he would have to survive alongside the M23 rebels who have occupied it.

Almost three million malnourished children

Seven miles away, in the city of Goma, the NGO League for Congolese Solidarity is one of the few sources of hope for those displaced by the war between the Congolese government and the M23, especially women. “But the fragile security in some areas makes access to the civilian population very difficult and we also have limited resources, which prevents us from responding adequately to the growing needs,” explains Joséphine Malimukono, the head of the organization.

The NGO is still trying to carry out its human rights awareness and sexual assault prevention programs, while offering psychological support to survivors of violence and trying to improve the living conditions of displaced people.

“We work tirelessly, but there is a terrible lack of coordination between humanitarian actors, which sometimes results in a waste of resources and the duplication of efforts,” she laments. “The international community has a fundamental role. It can provide financial and logistical support, but also strengthen the abilities of local actors and encourage a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” asks Malimukono.

On February 20, the international community and the Congolese government launched a Humanitarian Response Plan 2024, requesting $2.6 billion of assistance for about 8.7 million people in the country.

At the same time, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP) warned of the critical situation for children and families trapped in the escalation of violence in the east of the country. “We are extremely concerned for their safety in and around the Goma camps,” admitted Grant Leaity, UNICEF’s representative in the country.

The most urgent needs, according to these two organizations, are supplying food and clean drinking water, deploying mobile clinics to prevent and contain cholera, providing nutrition services and basic health care, and creating safe spaces for children and unaccompanied girls and to respond to and prevent cases of gender violence. For this reason and for the next six months, UNICEF requested $400 million for its emergency response in the country, and the WFP has requested $300 million.

According to the WFP, a total of 23.4 million people are expected to suffer from acute food insecurity between January and June 2024, and an estimated 2.8 million children are already suffering from acute malnutrition in the DRC. “We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe of massive proportions. Make no mistake, if we do not act now, lives will be lost,” warned Peter Musoko, the WFP’s country director and resident representative in the DRC.

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