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People queue for a food distribution in Rutshuru, eastern DR Congo

Africa

DR Congo: 28 million people not getting enough to eat, with conflict in the east a main driver, IPC alert says

A new IPC alert, reported by UN News on 30 October, says hunger is deepening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the northeastern and eastern provinces hit hardest as conflict, displacement and an Ebola outbreak combine.

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Photo: WFP/Benjamin Anguandia (file photo, food distribution in Rutshuru, eastern DR Congo; not from the events described)

More than 28 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not getting enough to eat, and the number is expected to rise in the coming months, according to the latest alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), reported by UN News on 30 October. The IPC, a UN-backed platform, grades hunger on a five-phase scale in which Phase 5 is famine.

The figures

The alert covers the period from September 2026 to June 2027. It forecasts that about 28.8 million people, or 23 per cent of the population analysed, will face Phase 3 (crisis) or worse through December. More than 3.6 million of them, around 3 per cent, are in Phase 4, the emergency level.

The three eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri account for 10.4 million people in Phase 3 or above. Four territories there, Djugu, Fizi, Shabunda and Walungu, are in Phase 4. For the period from January to June 2027, the alert projects 30.3 million people in Phase 3 or above, including 4.2 million in Phase 4.

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Conflict, Ebola and prices

The IPC alert says conditions “have deteriorated more markedly in the northeastern and eastern provinces” and that “conflict and violence continue to drive displacement” in the east of the country. UN News lists conflict, displacement, the Ebola outbreak, economic shocks and El Niño among the drivers, together with rising food and fuel prices and shrinking humanitarian assistance.

UN News reports that the Ebola outbreak has passed 10,000 cases and has spread from Ituri to eight provinces. Geopolitiki reported the milestone earlier this week in Ebola in DR Congo passes 10,000 cases as the WHO calls for sustained efforts.

What the alert does not say

The UN News report does not attribute the figures to a single agency beyond the IPC, and it names the World Food Programme only as the source of its photograph. It does not assign responsibility for the fighting to any party, and this article does not either. The IPC document itself could not be opened, so the numbers above are as relayed by UN News.

Democratic Republic of the Congo Ebola Food security United Nations

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