Amid the crackling of bullets: suffering in eastern DR Congo

Jorime and her family are among more than 700,000 people displaced within North Kivu province, including more than 480,000 in Rutshuru, Masisi, Walikale and Lubero territories alone. They were forced to flee the intensifying hostilities in the hope of finding refuge.

“The path was dangerous and we were scared. My daughter and the other children were crying, the women were screaming, the men were trying to stay on course, despite the unpredictable attacks,” she says.

Despite the fear and the crackle of bullets, Jorime, then pregnant, and her family continued to walk without knowing where they were going. They had only one goal: to find safety. After a long day of walking, exhausted and hungry, Jorime and her family arrived in the town of Lubero, where they found shelter with a host family.

“Living with a host family is not easy, but it was better than continuing to spend nights in the bush as we did for several days,” she says. In Lubero, although the conditions were precarious and temporary, it was a relief for the family to feel safe.

Fleeing with four children

Like Jorime, Desanges had no choice but to leave her home abruptly because of the attacks. She fled her village of Nduta with her four children.

“My husband was at the farm and he had headed for Kasingiri because he could no longer join us at home,” she recalls. She and her family spent three nights fleeing, looking for a safe place to take refuge.

They spent the first night in Kisembwe, where a woman was kind enough to give them a space to sleep. After spending the next two nights under the stars, Desanges’ children fell ill, making it even more difficult for them to find safety. Eventually they arrived in Lubero, where a local leader offered to put them up until the situation calmed down.

A region in crisis

For nearly 30 years, eastern DR Congo has seen recurring attacks related to disputes over resources. This has led to massive population displacements as people have fled in search of better living conditions. At the end of December 2024, just over 6.7 million people were internally displaced within the country as a whole, including more than 4 million in the provinces of South Kivu and North Kivu.

In the city of Goma, at least 500,000 of the 2 million+ population are displaced, adding to the already high level of needs for essentials such as water, nutrition, health and even education. The escalation of violence at the beginning of 2025 has only intensified the humanitarian situation.

As the casualties in Goma increase, with thousands affected, the scale of the crisis in eastern DR Congo is becoming clear. Displaced people continue to face significant challenges, from accessing basic services to simply finding shelter.

“Every day is a struggle to get food and clean water. Children play in the mud, and adults struggle to find ways to survive by doing daily labour. The fear of violence and conflict is always there and haunts us day and night,” says Jorime.

In Lubero territory, most of the displaced people are hosted by relatives or host families. Others, having nowhere else to go, have no choice but to take shelter in houses that are under construction or abandoned.

Unlike other parts of North Kivu, such as the area around Goma, displacement camps are not common in Lubero. Community members open the doors of their homes when they can. Host families are already affected by rising prices and a lack of supplies, but they share the little they have.

Hope amid challenges

Despite the trauma they have experienced, many of the displaced families continue to hope for a brighter future.

“One day, someone told us that we might be able to return to Kivale if peace returned. But with each new offensive, this hope seems to fade a little more. Every time I see children and women in the community, I think of those I left behind,” says Jorime.

The humanitarian response, meanwhile, faces major challenges that must be urgently addressed to avert disaster. In 2024, nearly 70 per cent of humanitarian funding for DR Congo came from the United States. The current suspension of US funding raises serious concerns about the humanitarian community’s ability to maintain this life-saving assistance. Without rapid action, essential resources will be depleted in a matter of days, putting countless lives at risk.

Like Jorime, Desanges remains hopeful that her family will be able to rebuild their lives. “Despite everything, even if I don’t know yet what kind of assistance is being planned, I am hopeful that we will have humanitarian aid very soon,” she says.

NRC is on the ground

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is present in North Kivu, supporting people who have been forced to flee conflict and violence. We have been closely monitoring recent population movements so that we can quickly scale up our response in Lubero territory, as well as in Goma and the surrounding area.

We stand ready to provide life-saving assistance to 490,000 displaced people, in coordination with our partners. This response, which will prioritise frontline emergency response to the newly displaced, requires urgent funding to ensure that we can meet the growing needs.

Read more about our work in DR Congo

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