Record 28 million people face acute hunger in conflict-ravaged Congo

(Reuters) -Twenty-eight million people face acute hunger in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a record for the country, driven by an escalating conflict between the government and Rwandan-backed rebels in the east, the United Nations said on Thursday.

A longstanding humanitarian crisis in Congo has been aggravated by the conflict, with 2.5 million more people becoming acutely hungry since the most recent surge of violence in December, the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a joint statement.

Those facing acute hunger are classified as Phase 3 or higher in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). Of the 28 million in Congo, 3.9 million are Phase 4, meaning they are experiencing emergency levels of hunger.

Phase 5 indicates famine. The country has a population of more than 100 million.

Fighting between the government and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels has escalated since the start of the year into eastern Congo's biggest conflict in decades and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

“The current situation is dire for the population, as harvests are lost, food prices soar, millions of people face acute food insecurity and are increasingly vulnerable,” said Athman Mravili, the interim FAO representative in Congo.

More than 10 million of those facing acute hunger are in eastern Congo, which has experienced near-constant insecurity since wars in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide left millions dead and spawned dozens of militia groups.

Elsewhere in the country, inflation and the depreciation of the Congolese franc have made it difficult for many to get enough to eat, the statement said.

Cuts by the U.S. and other leading donors to their foreign aid have left humanitarian agencies struggling to respond to the impacts of conflict, natural disasters and climate change.

(Reporting by Congo Newsroom; Editing by Sharon Singleton)