Humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC

In 2021, armed conflict and natural disasters caused massive population movements and protection incidents in an overall context of poor access to quality basic social services, weak social protection and development policies and deep gender inequalities.

Of recent, it is the rising violence in the Eastern part of the country that has drawn international attention as the Congolese army is up in arms against the reconstituted rebel movement called the M23. The US Department of Defense think tank, Africa Centre for Strategic Studies warns that if the escalating violence goes unchecked, it risks plunging The Great Lakes region into an interstate conflict that may further complicate the existing humanitarian crisis in the country.