Today, the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced nearly $48 million in additional urgently needed humanitarian assistance to help people affected by the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland announced the funding, which will provide support for nearly 2 million crisis-affected people in eastern DRC, during a visit to Kinshasa today. This funding builds on the continuing support the United States has provided to the people of the DRC, bringing total U.S. humanitarian assistance to nearly $486 million this fiscal year in response to urgent needs in the DRC.
Ongoing fighting between the DRC's military, Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement (M23) elements, and other armed groups has prompted large-scale displacement and limited access to basic services. More than 26 million people are projected to require humanitarian assistance in the DRC during 2023, and approximately 1.3 million people, many of whom are living in unsafe and overcrowded camps without adequate access to food, water, or medical care, have been displaced in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces alone since the beginning of the year.
The crisis has also resulted in serious protection violations, including a sharp increase in gender-based violence (GBV) cases that the non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières has described as "catastrophic" in scale. The new assistance will support protection activities, such as GBV prevention and response and psychosocial support services, for the most vulnerable and at-risk populations in the DRC.
This new USAID support, which includes $3 million directly for Congolese non-governmental organizations, will also bolster efforts by partners providing emergency food assistance, health care, nutrition support, shelter materials, and safe drinking water, among other assistance
The United States is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the people of the DRC. We continue to stand with conflict-affected populations in the DRC and support our partners working tirelessly to save lives and alleviate suffering in one of the world's most dire humanitarian emergencies.
