France and Togo are co-hosting a conference in Paris on Thursday to support peace and prosperity in the Great Lakes region of Africa. A coalition of international NGOs will urge participants to step up their financial response to the “unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries.
The conference aims to drum up an international response to the crisis in the eastern DRC and support efforts by Qatar and the United States to mediate in the conflict between the Democratic Republic of Congo government and the M23 rebel group, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
Known as the Ministerial Conference in Support of Peace and Prosperity in the Great Lakes Region, the event has been organised in close coordination with Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé, the African Union’s mediator in the Congo-Rwanda crisis.
Approximately 50 countries and international organisations are expected to attend the talks which are part of the Paris Peace Forum - a two-day summit on conflict resolution and multilateral cooperation.
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French President Emmanuel Macron will address the gathering alongside his Congolese counterpart Félix Tshisekedi on Thursday afternoon.
“The main objective is to show that there is no forgotten crisis. The DRC and the Great Lakes region must be at the centre of international attention,” a presidential advisor told the press.
Collapse of essential services
The other objective is pushing for a significant increase in humanitarian funding.
More than 21 million people need humanitarian aid in the DRC – nearly one-fifth of the population, according to NGO Oxfam France.
The aid charity is one of 12 NGOs and NGO networks that signed an open letter ahead of the conference, calling on the participants of the conference to go “beyond declarations of intent”.
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“This crisis goes beyond the immediate emergency, it also stems from the gradual collapse of essential services (health, water, education, electricity, food), on which the survival and dignity of the population depend,” the coalition wrote on Tuesday.
The crisis is particularly severe in the east of the vast central African country – a region rich in natural resources that has been plagued by conflict for three decades.
Violence intensified in January year when the M23 armed group, backed by neighbouring Rwanda, seized the major eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu in a lightning offensive.
Millions displaced
More than 1.6 million people have had to flee their homes since the beginning of the year, bringing the total number of internally displaced people to 7.8 million, including about one million children.
Ninety percent of those displaced are in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri.
In addition, some 500,000 refugees have fled to Uganda, 100,000 to Rwanda and 100,000 to Burundi, according to French authorities.
These displacements, often repeated and forced, have “undermined people’s ability to access livelihoods, weakening their food security, health, and resilience” the coalition of NGOs said.
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Food supplies are also critical, with nearly “28 million people suffering from hunger”, while health services are overwhelmed and infrastructure destroyed.
Sexual violence has reached alarming levels, with “one woman raped every four minutes”, Oxfam France said.
RFI’s correspondent in Kinshasa reported that since the fall of Goma, the entire system for supplying medicines and other essentials has been disrupted in the region due to the closure of local airports.
As a result, 85 percent of health facilities are experiencing stock shortages, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
“We’re lacking everything,” says Francois Moreillon, the ICRC’s country representative, “antimalarials, vaccines, antiretrovirals, and post-rape kits.”
Funding decline
Despite this emergency, international aid has steadily declined, particularly from the United States.
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According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of 15 October of this year, only 16 percent of the €2.1 billion humanitarian response plan has been met.
Last year, 70 percent of aid to the DRC came from the United States, while France covered only 0.5 percent of the country’s humanitarian needs, Oxfam France said.
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In 2025, the largest donor is the European Union, with €112 million in aid, followed by the US with just under €55 million.
On a broader diplomatic and economic level, France hopes the Great Lakes conference will reinforce its presence in this part of Africa.
Keynote speaker Eléonore Caroit - France’s Minister Delegate for Francophonie and International Partnerships - told RFI that the conference was a chance to “redefine the diplomatic models between France and Africa”, thanks to the involvement at every level, from government to civil society.
A second segment of the conference is set to address the so-called “root causes” of the crisis through regional economic integration.