Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 14, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
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The Congo conflict has displaced 350,000 people, with UNHCR reporting worsening conditions as M23 rebels advance and camps are destroyed.
GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency voiced concern at the "rapidly deteriorating" situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, saying the war had left around 350,000 displaced people with no roof over their heads.
Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seized eastern Congo's largest city of Goma last month and have been inching south in an advance that a local official has said may trigger a broader catastrophe in an area already housing thousands of displaced people.
UNHCR spokesperson Eujin Byun told journalists in Geneva by video link that around 350,000 internally displaced people had no shelter as their temporary camps had been destroyed or unexploded munitions made it unsafe for them to go home.
About 70% of Goma's camps are destroyed, and others in Minova are damaged, according to UNHCR.
"Hundreds of thousands of people are now living in makeshift accommodation, including churches and hospitals," Byun added.
The agency also reported an increase in crime and said the danger of disease was growing as it and other agencies struggle to provide aid amid the fighting.
More than 80 civilians were killed in a late-night attack by the CODECO militia on a cluster of villages in eastern Congo this week, the U.N. peacekeeping mission MONUSCO said on Thursday.
CODECO, one of many militias fighting over land and resources, has frequently attacked the displacement camps, which have mushroomed since M23 began its advance.
Rwanda has been accused by Congo, the United Nations and Western countries of supporting M23 with its own troops and weapons, a charge Kigali denies.
At least 3,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by the recent fighting.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; editing by Thomas Seythal and Kevin Liffey)
The main topic is the displacement of 350,000 people in Congo due to ongoing conflict and the humanitarian crisis it has caused.
The M23 rebels are a group accused of advancing in eastern Congo, contributing to the displacement crisis.
Rwanda is accused of supporting the M23 rebels, but it denies these charges.
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