About a quarter of DR Congo's population faces some level of hunger
The United Nations Food Program (WFP) has announced that approximately 23.4 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, i.e. almost a quarter of the country's population, are facing some degree of hunger.
WFP has said in its report that the problem of hunger caused by conflicts in the DRC is getting worse as violence and fighting in the eastern states of the country are increasing and forcing people to flee their homes again.
The WFP statement added that many citizens continue to seek refuge in the city of Goma, which is the capital of the North Kivu state, leading to increased conflicts due to food shortages and thus causing abnormal inflation in the prices of important products, especially food in the markets of Goma.
In her recent visit to the city of Goma, the Executive Director of WFP, Cindy McCain, saw closely the dire situation that continues to afflict millions of people affected by the conflict.
After the visit McCain said: "The city of Goma is surrounded by tens of thousands of temporary shelters, and the number is increasing every day. Displaced people are crowded around Goma and they need food, clean water and sanitation. WFP needs the help of donors to speed up its services to people living in refugee camps before it's too late."
According to the statement, WFP needs 548.5 million US dollars to be able to continue providing services to refugees in the DRC.
