A plastic jerrycan filled with water rests snugly between the trunks of a small tree in front of Ferida’s shelter in Bele settlement, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Haut Uele Province.

Massive funding gaps are threatening hundreds of thousands of lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where surging violence and COVID-19 are exacerbating already dire conditions for millions of forcibly displaced people.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, remains alarmed at an ongoing surge in violent attacks on local populations in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where more than 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in just two months.

Two months ago, Solonita, 59, fled with her son when armed men attacked her village in east Democratic Republic of the Congo.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is working with local authorities and partners to immediately assist some 80,000 people affected by heavy floods in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Displaced people and host communities all over the African continent are at heightened risk as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.