Tens of thousands of people who have fled escalating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are facing severe humanitarian conditions in neighbouring Burundi, aid agencies have warned.
Nearly 90,000 refugees have crossed the border in recent weeks following intense fighting involving M23 rebels, who recently seized the city of Uvira, close to Burundi. Although the rebels claim they have since withdrawn, the violence has already displaced vast numbers of civilians.
Humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says overcrowded camps are struggling to cope, with limited access to food, clean water and healthcare. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reports that women and children are bearing the brunt of the crisis, including pregnant women who have gone days without eating.
MSF says its medical teams have been treating around 200 patients each day since refugees began arriving in Burundi over the past two weeks.
“We are seeing extreme distress, exhaustion and despair,” said Zakari Moluh, MSF’s project coordinator in Ndava, north-western Burundi. “Some women have given birth while fleeing violence, and others are delivering babies in our clinics.”
Aid agencies have also raised alarm over the growing risk of disease outbreaks, warning that overcrowding and poor sanitation could lead to the spread of cholera, measles and malaria, particularly among vulnerable groups.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says it is scaling up emergency assistance to more than 210,000 displaced people, noting that about 500,000 civilians have been forced from their homes in South Kivu province since early December.
According to the WFP, at least 71,000 Congolese refugees in Burundi are currently receiving hot meals at transit centres. However, the agency warns that public services in South Kivu are close to collapse, with health facilities looted, medicines unavailable and schools shut down.
The organisation has appealed for urgent funding to sustain food assistance over the next three months.
The fall of Uvira marked a further expansion of M23 territorial control after the group previously captured the key eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu. While the rebels announced a withdrawal from Uvira under pressure from the United States, Congolese authorities have disputed claims that they fully pulled out.
The renewed violence comes despite a US-brokered peace agreement between the governments of DR Congo and Rwanda aimed at ending the long-running conflict. Washington accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels — a claim Kigali denies.
Although the M23 was not a signatory to that deal, the group has been involved in a separate peace process mediated by Qatar, a close US ally with strong diplomatic ties to Rwanda.
As fighting continues and displacement rises, aid groups warn that without swift international support, the humanitarian crisis could worsen dramatically.