Since the end of March 2022, intermittent clashes between the M23 and the Congolese army had already forced more than 200,000 people to flee their villages in the territories of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo. The renewed fighting at the end of October created a new wave of displacement, particularly towards the town of Goma. Several tens of thousands of people came to settle in informal sites in Kanyaruchinya and the surrounding localities, just ten kilometers north of the capital of North Kivu. This locality was already hosting thousands of people displaced by previous rounds of fighting in the last few months and people affected by the May 2021 volcanic eruption. Their living conditions were already extremely precarious, and the arrival of a new wave of displaced people has significantly increased the needs of those living there. MSF is supporting Kanyaruchinya health center and delivering 200,000 litres of water per day across more than ten sites.
Before these new mass arrivals, MSF was one of the only actors operational. Our team was already calling for a mobilization of other humanitarian actors present in Goma. It is now urgent that a humanitarian response, commensurate with the crisis, is put in place immediately.