By James Tasamba
KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Roughly 24.8 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are facing acute food insecurity, mainly in provinces plagued by violent conflicts, according to a report released Tuesday by the Agriculture Ministry.
Presenting the report in the capital Kinshasa, Alain Boyoa, national coordinator of the Food and Nutrition Security Program at the ministry, said the most affected provinces in the September to December period were North Kivu, South Kivu, Tanganyika and Ituri.
Boyoa attributed the crisis to growing conflicts and attacks on the population by various rebel groups.
The report cited insufficient basic infrastructure and macroeconomic shocks among the other causes of acute food insecurity in Congo.
It also paints a bleak picture in the near future, indicating that the situation could worsen next year due to ongoing conflicts, floods and population displacement.
The authors of the report called on the government to end violent conflicts, facilitate humanitarian access to conflict zones, and create a social protection program.
The growing insecurity fuels what humanitarians describe as one of the world’s most acute humanitarian crises in Congo, with about 7.8 million people internally displaced in the eastern part of the country, according to the UN.
During the International Conference for Peace and Prosperity in the Great Lakes Region in Paris last week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in international aid was collected "for the most vulnerable populations" in Congo and the broader Great Lakes region.