Between 8 and 20 March 2023, between 600 and 800 Congolese refugees entered Tanzania every day to flee from clashes between the M23 and the Congolese army in the Kivu region. This has created an already unserviceable level of needs in food, WASH, shelter, and healthcare. The situation is expected to worsen as more refugees are projected to cross the border. The influx of refugees into Tanzania is just one of the many ongoing crises in the region.

The Nkamira transit center in Rwanda has welcomed over 5,800 new asylum seekers from the DRC between November 2022 and the end of March 2023. The vast majority of these arrivals originate from North Kivu, specifically Masisi and Rutshuru, where violent clashes are reported on a daily basis. The refugee crisis in Rwanda has put a significant strain on the country's already overburdened resources.

In Burundi, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced last week that food aid rations for refugees, mostly Congolese fleeing violence in eastern DRC, would be halved from 1 April due to insufficient funding. This move is likely to worsen food insecurity and could further exacerbate tensions between host and refugee communities around the camps and transit centers.

At the end of February, there were 1.1 million refugees and asylum seekers from the DRC across Africa, mostly in Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The ongoing crisis in the region has led to the displacement of millions of people, with no clear end in sight.

The current situation highlights the urgent need for increased humanitarian assistance and funding to provide basic needs to refugees and asylum seekers. The humanitarian community must work together to provide adequate resources to support refugees and host communities in the affected countries. The international community must also focus on addressing the root causes of the conflict in the DRC to find a lasting solution to the crisis.