KINSHASA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- About 237,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of 2025 in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), one of the world's largest hosts of people uprooted within their own borders, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday.
Escalating clashes between armed groups and the DRC army in North and South Kivu provinces, already home to 4.6 million internally displaced people, are intensifying one of the world's most alarming yet under-reported humanitarian crises, UNHCR spokesperson Eujin Byun said at a press briefing.
From Jan. 1 to 6, intense fighting in the Masisi and Lubero territories of North Kivu Province forced about 150,000 individuals to flee their homes, while 84,000 people have been displaced in South Kivu's Fizi territory, the UN agency said, noting that civilians in both regions are enduring indiscriminate bombings.
On Wednesday, during a cabinet meeting chaired by President Felix Tshisekedi, the DRC government announced that the military had recovered several strategic localities in the eastern part of the country previously occupied by the March 23 Movement rebellion.
"The DRC Armed Forces remain determined on all front lines to restore security, recover lost areas, and restore the territorial integrity of the DRC," government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said late Wednesday. ■