The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has said that insecurity and horrific sexual violence have left tens of thousands fleeing across borders with no sign of the exodus stopping in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

UNHCR’s Division of International Protection, Patrick Eba, in a statement on Tuesday said that no fewer than 80,000 had left DR Congo.

“Near the frontlines, sexual violence and human rights abuses remain rampant, as is the looting and destruction of civilian homes and businesses,” he said.

Speaking in Geneva, Eba told journalists that North and South Kivu provinces remain unstable, with “hundreds of thousands of people on the move”.

According to him, close to 80,000 people have fled armed clashes between Congolese Government forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels into neighbouring countries and some 61,000 have arrived in Burundi since January.

A staggering 895 cases of rape were reported to humanitarian actors in the last two weeks of February alone, the UN refugee agency official continued – an average of more than 60 a day.

The UNHCR official highlighted other risks faced by civilians, including the dangers posed by explosive remnants of war to children and farmers trying to tend their fields.

On Monday, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) reported that armed men had raided at least two hospitals in North Kivu’s capital Goma, abducting dozens of patients.

The fighting has also impeded humanitarian access to people on the move. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has had to pause its aid operations in conflict-affected areas but was resuming emergency food assistance “in some parts of North Kivu” according to a post on social media platform X on Tuesday morning, aiming to reach over 210,000 people.

Inside North and South Kivu, “significant” population movements have continued, in line with reported M23 orders issued to internally displaced people (IDPs) to leave the camps around Goma, UNHCR’s Eba said.

“Today, only around 17,000 people are left residing in IDP sites, schools and churches around Goma, while an estimated 414,000 of their neighbours have been on the move for the past four weeks, encouraged by the de facto authorities to return to their villages of origin,” he explained.

Given the widespread insecurity in eastern DRC, “many more” people may need to cross borders in search of safety, Eba warned.

UNHCR’s position regarding returns to the area is that “Congolese nationals fleeing the conflict, as well as those who are outside the country, who originate from the areas affected by the conflict, may need refugee protection under international and regional legal frameworks,” he said.

The UNHCR official emphasized the importance of “informed decision-making” for any voluntary returns to conflict-affected areas.

Asked about the impact of the United States’ humanitarian funding freeze on operations in the country, UNHCR spokesperson Eujin Byun confirmed that the agency had received a waiver lifting the 90-day suspension for “a few emergency countries, including DRC”.

Assistance for the current crisis that was spawned by a decades-long conflict in the mineral-rich region had “always been underfunded”, she said, expressing hope that UNHCR will be able to “continue to support this emergency”.

There are over one million Congolese refugees across Africa, mainly in neighbouring countries.

Uganda hosts more than half of that total, while Burundi has seen most new arrivals since January’s flash M23 offensive. Prior to the current crisis, some 6.7 million people were internally displaced (NAN)