Three masked assailants, in the early Spring of 2017, burst into the home at Kinshasa of a then-39-year-old secretary. She was gang-raped at gunpoint, with her sons — then 14 and 6 — forced to watch.

Rather than receive medical treatment or victim support, Nancy was vilified by her family and community, leaving her little choice but to flee the capital for a Displaced Person’s camp. She learned along the way that she was pregnant from the rape. Nancy gallantly chose to raise her child in a refugee camp.  

Nancy is just one of more than 25 million — a quarter of the country’s population — to be suffering, moving from place to place as violence follows, and in desperate need of assistance as the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo rises to astronomical levels.

“The situation in the east is deteriorating by the day. Thousands of people have been killed in the last year, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced,” a professor, Phil Clark, of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London, tells The New York Sun. “Ethnic hate speech is fueling violence at the community level. Recent history suggests if a political agreement can’t be found soon, the conflict will continue to escalate, and the human suffering will increase.”

America, through the Agency for International Development, declared last month that it would provide an additional $414 million in humanitarian aid to the embattled Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing the total to more than $838 million in less than a year. Much of the money is earmarked to go to United Nations agencies and aid groups to provide emergency food and nutrition support, agricultural commodities, water, sanitation, hygiene, and healthcare, with an additional $10 million in donated monkey pox vaccines as the country grapples with the worst outbreak in the world. 

What is happening in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo that warrants the desperate need for foreign help?

“The situation is deteriorating with more than 7.3 million people displaced by more than 120 militias and armed groups who operate in the east of the country,” president of the Center for Victims of Torture, Simon Adams, tells the Sun. For decades, the Congolese government and the United Nations peacekeeping mission, he says, “have both failed to adequately protect civilians from predatory armed groups and various marauding armed forces.”

A long history of violence

In 1996, Rwanda’s Tutsi-led military invaded Zaire, renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997, to chase Hutu militias who had fled there following the Rwandan Genocide. This action triggered the First Congo War, which resulted in the overthrow of Zaire’s president, Mobutu Sese Seko, with Laurent-Désiré Kabila assuming power. In 1998, a rebellion backed by Rwanda and Uganda ignited the Second Congo War, the deadliest conflict since World War II. 

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is today plagued by instability, with heavily armed militias continuing to battle over territory and resources, replete with mass rape and executions, torture, and the abuse and kidnapping of children. The Congolese army has been locked in battle with March 23 Movement rebels since 2022, leading to a surge in displacement. The Tutsi-majority outfit, allegedly supported by Rwanda, launched an offensive in North Kivu province in late 2021, capturing significant territory.

The western sector of the country is not immune to violence, either. A hidden conflict is escalating in the western pocket near Kinshasa. A tax dispute between Teke and Yaka groups near Kinshasa has spiraled into widespread violence, resulting in thousands of deaths — often through beheading — and displacements. Militias have reportedly committed atrocities, including forced recruitment, sexual violence, and looting, while Congolese soldiers have also perpetrated abuses. 

Since 1996, some six million persons have lost their lives nationwide. Even those who were tasked to help — with American tax dollars as the most significant funding source — stand accused of doing more harm than good. 

In 1999, the United Nations created its first peacekeeping mission in the Congo. The mission was rebranded after failing to bring lasting peace, and its mandate expanded in 2010. Now, facing growing criticism and pressure from the Congolese government, the almost six thousand United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo peacekeepers are scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2024.

For some observers, this is a welcome move. 

The former Africa counterterrorism director for the Pentagon, Rudolph Atallah, tells the Sun that the United Nations mission “achieved nothing” and at one point, its peacekeepers “were accused of raping little girls and boys.”

The fight for natural resources

War in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been made all the more intense – prompting the wrestle for control by various armed groups — given the country’s swath of coveted natural resources such as gold, lithium, oil, copper and perhaps most importantly: cobalt, a critical mineral used in the production of rechargeable batteries.

Cobalt mining in the Congo has a notorious reputation for human rights abuses, including dangerous working conditions, child labor, and environmental hazards. Critics argue that the exploitation of this critical mineral benefits foreign countries while leaving local communities impoverished and vulnerable. Cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo is sent to China, the global leader in the electric vehicle market, where 65 percent of the world’s cobalt is processed into cathodes for lithium-ion (rechargeable) batteries. 

Although Kinshasa arguably has some control over the global battery supply chain as the world’s largest cobalt provider, most people reap no rewards from their nation’s vital resources, and three-quarters of the population lives in poverty. 

As the fighting increases, the humanitarian crisis deepens

Afflicted by conflict, poverty, malnutrition, and frequent disease outbreaks, the Democratic Republic of the Congo faces some of the most severe humanitarian needs globally. Over 7 million people are currently displaced within the country as the conflict grinds on for almost three decades, making it Africa’s second-largest displacement crisis after Sudan, and an additional one million Congolese have fled to neighboring countries. 

The United Nations laments that its $2.6 billion aid appeal for the Congo is facing funding shortfall, with only one-third of the funds secured. The World Health Organization has warned that over a million children are at risk of acute malnutrition in the country.

Even before the flare-up in the fighting two years ago, the country’s healthcare system was already struggling due to underfunding and resource scarcity. The ongoing violence has further disrupted healthcare access, forcing people to flee their homes and limiting their ability to reach medical facilities. Those that remain operational are overwhelmed and under-resourced, with many patients sharing beds and some facilities even coming under attack.

A particular cause for concern is the increasing levels of gender-based violence. UNICEF reports a 37 percent rise in rape cases during the first quarter of 2023, with over 38,000 cases reported. Women and girls in displacement camps are especially vulnerable to sexual assault by militias and the Congolese army, including rape and sexual slavery. Many women and girls have been attacked while gathering supplies or firewood outside of their camps.

“The Democratic Republic of the Congo has some of the worst cases of gender-based violence and mass rape in the world. Sexual violence is regularly used to terrorize and destroy communities,” Adams said. “Attacks are not only getting worse, they seem to be built-in to the military tactics of some predatory armed groups.”

The country has long been deemed “the rape capital of the world” by international officials. An average of 43 mostly girls and women raped every hour – including children as young as 18 months, their violated internal organs beyond surgical repair. 

“The stories of sexual violence are horrific. One woman described how she was pregnant, and her stomach was open, and the baby was pulled out and thrown to the ground. This really horrific stuff is still going on — and it is happening on (all) sides from armed groups,” veteran Congo photographer and filmmaker Neil Brandvold, who just returned from several months in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, tells the Sun.

Where the United States aid money will go

Humanitarian groups urge foreign governments to continue supporting the embattled nation in what activists depict as “catastrophic.” Spanning multiple administrations, the United States is the primary provider of humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo, with upwards of a billion dollars going to the country most years for decades on end. As Washington continues to throw the money at the problem, the glaring question remains: Will the money actually go where it is meant to?

“The US announcement of additional aid is welcome and will save lives. But navigating the corruption and malfeasance of various actors and agencies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is going to be a problem for the foreseeable future,” Mr. Adams noted. “The United States and other countries should also immediately suspend assistance to any foreign country found to be supporting armed groups and resource plundering.” 

The leading global indicator of public sector corruption, Transparency International, ranks the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an abysmal 162 out of 180 countries. With the situation rapidly deteriorating, some insist there is more — or a different approach — that leaders now need to deploy.

Mr. Clark stressed that the United States aid package “comes at a crucial time” and is primarily funded through United Nations agencies and international aid groups, avoiding the risk of state corruption. Still, he argued that it still doesn’t get to the root of the problem. 

“The only solution to the crisis is a lasting political agreement. There is no military solution to this conflict,” Mr. Clark continued. “(Washington) and other partners should push urgently for a regional summit, involving all of the key government and rebel players.”

While the United States recently imposed sanctions on members of the rebel outfit, neither the United Nations nor Washington have imposed sanctions on Kigali. As criticism mounts, the Rwandan government denies involvement in funding rebel groups. 

Other experts paint a more dismal picture of the conflict, one which money cannot solve.

“I honestly don’t believe we (the United States) will ever do much to stop the violence because we have no current coherent policy,” Mr. Atallah added.