Refugees of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Refugees of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are people originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), a country with more than 114 million inhabitants,[1] who seek refuge outside the borders of their native country. For decades, DR Congo has faced recurring conflict, political volatility and deep economic difficulties. Armed violence is widespread, particularly in the east, where more than 120 non-state groups operate and often inflame local tensions. Civilians are frequently trapped in these clashes. These conditions have displaced more than eight million people from their homes.[2] As of September 2025, an estimated 8.2 million people had been internally displaced, but more than 1.2 million Congolese have sought refuge abroad, with almost half living in Uganda.[3]

As of December 2023, the country also hosts more than 500,000 refugees from neighbouring states, mainly from Rwanda, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Burundi.[4]

Reasons for displacement

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Large-scale displacement in the DR Congo has its roots in the First (1996–1997) and Second Congo Wars (1998–2003), but contemporary refugee flows are primarily driven by ongoing violence in the Kivu and Ituri regions.

Kivu conflict

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Further information: Kivu conflict

The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed confrontations in North Kivu and South Kivu in eastern DR Congo that have taken place since the end of the Second Congo War. It has broadly consisted of three phases: June 2004[5] – February 2009;[6] April 2012 – November 2013;[7] and January 2015[8] to the present. Each phase of the conflict included serious abuses and violence against civilians,[9] but violence did not cease between these phases.[10][11] The conflict also led to the destruction of many communities and caused severe damage to essential facilities such as schools, hospitals and clinics.[12]

Ituri conflict

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Further information: Ituri conflict

The Ituri conflict is an ongoing low intensity asymmetrical conflict between the agriculturalist Lendu and pastoralist Hema ethnic groups in the Ituri region of the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. While the two groups had fought since as early as 1972,[13] there was a period of intense violence between 1999 and 2003.[14] Armed conflict continues to the present day.

Since 2018, violence in Ituri has surged, with Lendu militias carrying out widespread attacks on Hema communities, involving killings, sexual violence and the destruction of villages.[15] President Félix Tshisekedi condemned the renewed violence in 2019 as an attempted genocide,[16] and in early 2020, the United Nations described the abuses as crimes against humanity.[15]

Internally displaced Congolese

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Main article: Internally displaced persons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

As of February 2025, over 6.9 million people have been forced to leave their homes but remain displaced inside the country.[17]

Host countries

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Uganda

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See also: Refugees in Uganda
A newly arrived child refugee from DRC collecting clean drinking water in Nyakabande transit camp in Uganda, 2013

Uganda hosts one of the world’s largest refugee population and is known for a model based on open borders, land allocation and access to work and public services.[18] By October 2025, the country had taken in roughly 1.95 million refugees.[19] As of February 2025, Uganda hosted about 575,000 refugees from DR Congo,[20] a population that is predominantly rural.[18]

In December 2017, intensified fighting in the northeast of DR Congo prompted thousands of people to flee into Uganda. More than 10,000 individuals crossed the border within a month, most of them women and children, as they escaped widespread violence against civilians, including killings, sexual assault, abductions, looting and forced recruitment by armed groups.[21]

The influx grew rapidly in early 2018. Hundreds of unaccompanied and separated children crossing the border each week through Kisoro. By January 2018, Uganda was hosting more than 250,000 Congolese refugees with children making up the majority of new arrivals.[22] In a single February week, more than 22,000 people crossed Lake Albert into Uganda, and several refugees drowned when an overcrowded canoe capsized. By mid-February 2018, roughly 34,000 people had entered Uganda since the start of the year, many fleeing intensified attacks on civilians and widespread destruction in Ituri. UNHCR warned that the dangerous lake crossings and continuing violence placed refugees at severe risk and called for greater humanitarian access inside DR Congo.[23]

By April 2019, the number of Congolese refugees in Uganda had risen to more than 300,000. Many had moved into Kampala and other urban areas in search of better access to services and economic opportunities. Uganda’s integration policy allowed refugees to live alongside local communities, but limited resources in settlements and the Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo created serious public-health concerns.[24]

In April 2022, renewed fighting in Rutshuru territory forced thousands of Congolese to flee into Uganda, with around 10,000 people finding refuge in Kisoro district. Many arrived in vulnerable conditions, including unaccompanied children, older people and those with disabilities, and most stayed close to the border to monitor the situation at home.[25]

Since the beginning of 2025, Uganda experienced a rapid rise in arrivals from the DR Congo as insecurity intensified in the eastern provinces. The influx came at a time when the country already was under strain from reduced humanitarian funding and from responding to tens of thousands of Sudanese who had fled the war in Sudan.[26] By June 2025, 63,000 Congolese had entered Uganda since the start of the year,[27] pushing the total Congolese refugee population in the country to almost 600,000.[26]

Reception centres in Uganda, especially Nyakabande and Matanda, have been overwhelmed by this influx of refugees, with overcrowding, with shortages of water, latrines and bathing facilities creating significant health risks. Cuts to humanitarian funding have further reduced essential support across the country, including closures of health facilities, loss of early-childhood staff and delays in shelter and transport assistance.[26]

Children made up a large share of the new arrivals and many reached Uganda in poor health, with high levels of malaria and malnutrition.[26] Reports indicated that 17% of newly arrived Congolese refugee children under five suffered from acute malnutrition.[27] Since January 2025, several children under five had died from malnutrition-related anaemia at the Nyakabande and Matanda transit centres in the southwest, where incoming refugees were first received.[26]

Burundi

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During the 2020s, Burundi faced one of its worst domestic crises in decades, with prolonged fuel shortages, power cuts and water scarcity severely disrupting essential services and daily life.[28][29] At the same time, the country was contending with outbreaks of cholera, measles and especially malaria.[30]

Burundi had hosted about 50,000 long-time refugees from the DRC, and by March 2025 an additional 66,000 people had arrived, increasing the total population to approximately 120,000.[30] This was the largest influx the country had seen in many years. More than half of the new arrivals were children;[29] there were also many women and older people. The rapid increase in arrivals strained available resources,[30] and severe funding shortages in the humanitarian sector further reduced the staff and resources available for assistance.[29] As a result, significant cuts to food assistance were made, reducing daily caloric intake for newly arrived Congolese refugees from 75 percent to 50 percent of recommended levels by June 2025.[30][29]

The arrival of large numbers of people also placed heavy pressure on shelters and local health facilities.[30] Schools, clinics and basic sanitation services were either unavailable or operating beyond their capacity. Severe living conditions in Burundi and renewed fighting in eastern DR Congo, including clashes between M23 rebels and government forces, have led some refugees to move repeatedly between the two countries. Nearly half of the 700 people registered by the UN during a week in April 2025 had already been registered in Burundi, underscoring the extreme vulnerability of Congolese refugees.[31]

Tanzania

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As of mid-2025, Tanzania hosted about 231,000 refugees, 35 percent of whom were from DR Congo, amounting to 86,478 people, while 65 percent were from Burundi.[32][33] Most refugees in the country lived in the Nyarugusu and Nduta camps, which together sheltered over 190,000 people, while only a small number resided in urban areas such as Dar es Salaam.[32] Humanitarian organisations have struggled to provide essential services such as drinking water, education, shelter and social support because of limited funding. At the same time, stricter administrative rules in the camps have reduced opportunities for protection, livelihoods and self-reliance, leaving refugees almost entirely dependent on humanitarian aid.[32]

South Africa

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As of February 2025, South Africa hosted about 46,000 refugees from DR Congo.[20]

Humanitarian impact

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Women and girls face heightened risks in this crisis, including sexual and other forms of gender-based violence, and some have turned to transactional sex as a way to cope with severe food shortages. Displaced children across the DRC have missed at least a full year of schooling. Food insecurity has worsened as conflict limits access to farmland, and many displaced families are sheltering in improvised structures that offer little protection from harsh weather.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "DR Congo Population (2025)". Worldometer. 1950-06-30. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
  2. ^ "NRC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo". NRC. 2024-10-29. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  3. ^ "DR Congo emergency". UNHCR. 2024-11-30. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  4. ^ a b "USA for UNHCR". Democratic Republic of the Congo Refugee Crisis Explained. 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  5. ^ "Rebel troops capture Bukavu and threaten third Congo war". The Independent. 3 June 2004. Archived from the original on 10 January 2008.
  6. ^ "Hutu Hotheads Fading Away". Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
  7. ^ "In pictures: M23 declares end to insurgency in DRC". BBC News. 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  8. ^ "DR Congo says offensive against Hutu rebels underway". 31 January 2015. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Democratic Republic of the Congo, Conflict in the Kivus". Online casebook. 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
    "DR Congo: M23 Rebels Committing War Crimes". Human Rights Watch. 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
    "Conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  10. ^ For instance, FDLR forces continued to kill and rape civilians throughout 2009."Democratic Republic of the Congo, Conflict in the Kivus". Online casebook. 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  11. ^ For instance, in 2014, certain FARDC units were implicated in extrajudicial killings."Report of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office on international humanitarian law violations committed by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) combatants in the territory of Beni, North Kivu province, between 1 October and 31 December 2014" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  12. ^ "In eastern Congo, a local conflict flares as regional tensions rise". The New Humanitarian. 2019-10-28. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  13. ^ "DRC: IRIN Focus on Hema-Lendu conflict [19991115]". www.africa.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  14. ^ Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, Conflict Name: Hema – Lendu, Conflict Summary, Non-state Conflict Archived June 26, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ a b "OHCHR | DRC: inter-ethnic violence in Ituri may constitute "crimes against humanity" – UN report". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  16. ^ "DR Congo president calls Ituri violence 'attempted genocide'". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  17. ^ "Crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo". International Organization for Migration. 2025-02-07. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
  18. ^ a b "Safe, but not surviving: Sudan's urban refugees in Uganda" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  19. ^ "Uganda: Sudanese Refugees and Asylum Seekers (as of 19 October 2025)". ReliefWeb. 2025-10-21. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  20. ^ a b "Refugees and asylum seekers from DRC". UNHCR. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  21. ^ "Congolese refugee influx into Uganda". Humanitarian Coalition. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  22. ^ Makumbi, Catherine Ntabadde (2018-04-22). "Hundreds of unaccompanied and separated Congolese refugee children enter Uganda". UNICEF Uganda. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  23. ^ "Fleeing DR Congo violence, thousands take perilous lake journey to Uganda – UN". UN News. 2018-02-13. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  24. ^ "WHO Mobilizes Urban-based Congolese Refugees in Uganda for Ebola action". WHO. 2025-12-02. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  25. ^ "Thousands escape to Uganda following violent clashes in DR Congo". UN News. 2022-04-01. Retrieved 2025-12-03.
  26. ^ a b c d e "UNHCR: Rapid influx of Congolese refugees strains Uganda's threadbare resources". UNHCR. 2025-04-08. Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  27. ^ a b "Uganda's Congolese refugee surge: a humanitarian model under threat" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-12-02.
  28. ^ "Burundi : the triple crisis of fuel, electricity, and water is suffocating residents, businesses, and schools". SOS Médias Burundi (in German). 2025-10-04. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  29. ^ a b c d "Mental health and psychosocial support needs assessment report: Burundi 2025 – DRC refugee response". UNHCR. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  30. ^ a b c d e "DRC refugee surge strains humanitarian support in Burundi and Uganda". World Food Programme. 2025-03-20. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  31. ^ "DR Congo crisis forces refugees to swim for their lives to Burundi". UN News. 2025-04-25. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  32. ^ a b c "NRC's operations in Tanzania Humanitarian overview" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  33. ^ "United Republic of Tanzania: Operational Update (June 2025)". ReliefWeb. 2025-07-29. Retrieved 2025-12-06.