D. R. Congo

+++ Current events: On January 27, rebels from the M23 movement captured Goma, the capital of the province of North Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people living in poor conditions around the large city in the conflict-torn region. After fierce fighting, the situation is gradually calming down, but remains very tense. WHH has been active in the region for a long time, especially in Goma. Our staff are safe. We are monitoring the situation very closely and are continuing our projects wherever it is safe to do so. +++ The Democratic Republic of Congo is Africa's second-largest country by area and slightly more than six times larger than Germany. Due to its wealth of natural resources, the country could be one of the richest on the continent, but of its 105,6 million inhabitants, more than 70 percent live below the poverty line. Political instability, wars, violence and corruption characterize everyday life. Health crises such as serious outbreaks of Ebola, measles, cholera and the Covid-19 pandemic also make life difficult for the population. Welthungerhilfe's work focuses on sustainable agricultural and economic development, resilience building, food security, water, health, sanitation (WASH) and emergency aid.