The volatile security situation in Ituri province, located in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo), continues to pose a significant threat to civilians, forcing thousands to flee their homes and disrupting the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid. According to the latest update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), local authorities estimate that over 1 million people are currently displaced in Ituri province alone.
Recent attacks by local armed groups, particularly in Djugu territory, have targeted civilians, including those living in displacement sites. These attacks follow a period of relative calm during which humanitarian organizations had managed to deliver critical aid to vulnerable populations.
On Thursday morning, local civil society groups reported that at least ten internally displaced people living in the Rhoe displacement site in Djugu territory were killed by armed individuals while on their way to their fields.
On Monday and Tuesday, armed groups attacked a displacement site and at least seven surrounding villages, resulting in four civilian deaths, multiple injuries, and the looting and burning of dozens of homes. Over 15,000 people were forced to flee to safer areas, adding to the growing number of displaced persons.
Aid agencies are working tirelessly to reach civilians affected by the violence, but they face major challenges. Numerous armed groups and funding shortfalls limit their ability to provide essential services, including food, shelter, and healthcare.
OCHA urges all armed groups to adhere to international humanitarian law and protect civilians in conflict-affected areas.
The humanitarian situation in the eastern provinces of the DRC remains dire, with millions of vulnerable civilians in need of assistance. Escalating violence and displacement further complicate efforts to address the root causes of the crisis and provide lasting solutions for those affected.
Despite promises of peace, violence in the eastern provinces persists
DRC has seen a series of political developments in recent months, including the signing of a peace accord between the Congolese government and the Rwandan government in June 2025. However, despite these diplomatic efforts, the situation on the ground remains volatile, with violence escalating and the humanitarian crisis deepening.
In her presentation to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Bintou Keita, the UN special envoy to DRC and head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), emphasized the importance of turning promises of peace into tangible actions.
"Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is still mostly a promise," Keita told UN ambassadors, briefing them on the situation in the country.
“There are discrepancies between the progress we see on paper and the reality we observe on the ground which continues to be marred with violence,” she added.
Keita expressed grave concerns over the increasing violence and worsening humanitarian crisis. Since June, over 1,080 civilians have been killed in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, with the situation in Ituri being of particular concern.
"The toll is growing day by day," she stressed.
While highlighting the holding of talks in Doha, which resulted in the signing of a declaration of principles in July between the Congolese Government, the Congolese River Alliance and the March 23 Movement (M23), she voiced concern that peace is slow to materialize on the ground.
Despite recent peace commitments in Doha and Washington, as well as an agreed-upon ceasefire between the M23 and the DRC government, active fighting continues in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri provinces.
Various armed groups, including the AFC/M23, continue to pursue territorial expansion and consolidation by replacing formal institutions with alternative structures and training new recruits.
“The AFC/M23 have continued to pursue a logic of territorial expansion and consolidation,” Keita said, reporting that, since their taking of Goma, the capital of North Kivu, the groups have replaced formal institutions with alternative structures, and trained more than 7,000 new recruits in camps.
Pointing out that July was the deadliest month since the group's resurgence in Rutshuru territory at the end of November 2021, the UN envoy called on the Council to establish a permanent ceasefire.
“This underscores the persisting gap between the decisions of this Council and the realities on the ground,” she said.
“Nonetheless, violence is not the domain of a single armed group,” she added, describing an increasingly complex security situation, outlining attacks by myriad groups, including the Allied Defence Forces (ADF) in North Kivu and Ituri.
According to Keita, the ADF has executed 300 civilians over the past three months, targeting solemn occasions such as religious services, funerals, and other gatherings.
The human rights situation in South Kivu also remains a cause for concern, with ongoing violations against civilians.
Keita also expressed concern about the insufficient funding of the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), which aims to provide aid to 11 million of the most vulnerable people across the country at a cost of US$2.54 billion.
To date, however, it has received only 15 percent of the required funding, compared to 41 percent at the same time last year, despite the escalating needs resulting from the crisis in the east.
“If we fail to close these gaps, millions will pay the price on the ground,” the UN envoy stressed.
This year the conflict in the eastern region has reached levels not seen in three decades, and exacerbated one of the world's largest and most underreported humanitarian crises, with over 21 million people in need of assistance nationwide.
The violence that has displaced millions within Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu since the beginning of 2025 and has also forced more than 122,000 people to flee to neighboring countries, primarily Burundi and Uganda.
Conflict, economic instability, and rising food prices are putting millions of Congolese at risk of a deepening food crisis. An estimated 27.7 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or worse), including approximately 3.9 million experiencing emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4).
The hunger situation has deteriorated significantly in the four eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika. More than 10.3 million people in these provinces are experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, including 2.3 million facing emergency levels (IPC Phase 4).
Plagued by major health emergencies
Furthermore, the country is plagued by major health emergencies, including measles, mpox, cholera, and Ebola.
Since the beginning of 2025, DRC has experienced a troubling increase in epidemics, particularly measles and cholera. From January to July of this year, over 38,000 cholera cases were reported in 17 of the country's 26 provinces, resulting in nearly 1,000 deaths. As of July, 120,000 mpox cases had been reported nationwide.
These outbreaks are occurring amid reduced humanitarian funding and insufficient resources to contain them.
However, efforts to respond to the Ebola outbreak in DRC are beginning to slow the virus's spread. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of cases reported over the past three weeks shows early signs of a downward trend. The outbreak remains localized in the Bulape Health Zone in the Kasai Province.
On Thursday, the WHO emphasized that maintaining and increasing control measures is critical to stopping the outbreak. As of Wednesday, there had been reported a total of 64 cases — 53 of which were confirmed, and 11 were probable — including 42 deaths.