UN warned on Thursday that more than 26 million people are at risk of severe food insecurity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by early 2026, due to a drastic decline in international aid and ongoing armed conflicts that have plagued the country for decades. 

Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a resource-rich region bordering Rwanda, has endured more than 30 years of violence.

Since January, clashes between Congolese forces and the M23 rebel group, backed by Kigali, have intensified, with the fall of the cities of Goma and Bukavu, leaving thousands dead and millions displaced. 

In response to the worsening humanitarian crisis, France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced during a conference in Paris that Goma Airport will reopen “within the coming weeks” to allow humanitarian flights. He added that more than €1.5 billion —about $1.7 billion— had been raised to assist vulnerable populations. 

Assistance from the United Nations

In a joint statement, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said that around 26.6 million people in the DRC are expected to face “crisis-level or worse” food insecurity in 2026. Of these, approximately 3.9 million are in “emergency” conditions. 

The eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika account for 75% of the most critical cases, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, a UN-mandated body that tracks global food crises. 

Both the FAO and WFP warned that shrinking international funding has severely hampered humanitarian operations. The FAO reported that by the end of August, it had only reached 217,000 people out of a planned 3.6 million due to budget shortfalls. 

“Without immediate funding and urgent measures, millions of lives are at risk,” warned Cynthia Jones, acting WFP director in the DRC, calling on the international community to intensify efforts to prevent a large-scale humanitarian disaster.