Greater access reveals countless numbers in need of relief

Aid agencies are beginning to get more access to people displaced by the war in both government- and rebel-held areas of DRC, but there are "countless others" in remote areas without access to humanitarian relief, the WFP reported on Monday. The agency visited Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Pweto, Goma, Bukavu and Bunia over the past three weeks to gather more information on the plight of internally-displaced people (IDPs), it said.

"What we're finding is that, in some cases, whole villages have shifted to distant areas... and have brought with them virtually nothing to survive on. What worries us even more is that we're just seeing a fraction of the displaced people out there," said WFP Country Director Kees Tuinenburg in a press statement. "Our biggest problem at the moment is that we don't have enough food to fully support even the limited numbers of displaced we can get access to at the moment. Even worse, if we don't receive
substantial new pledges in the coming weeks, we'll completely run out of food by April," said Tuinenburg.