At least 250,000 people have left their homes or places of displacement in North Kivu since the end of August 2008, following large-scale fighting between the forces of rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese army and other armed groups.
People have had to be constantly on the move, and many families have been separated, due to the heavy fighting, but also looting, destruction of homes and camps, killings, looting and rapes. As a result, at least one million people are displaced in North Kivu, and 1.4 million in DRC as a whole. Humanitarian agencies are struggling to respond to the emergency needs of these IDPs and other vulnerable people in a situation of limited access and difficult security.
The following update focuses on people displaced in North Kivu, particularly since the end of August 2008. For information on IDPs in the rest of DRC, please see the overview of 30 September 2008, "Escalating displacement in North Kivu despite ceasefire agreement".
Full Internal Displacement Profile
Democratic Republic of the Congo country page
The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), established by the Norwegian Refugee Council, is the leading non-governmental body monitoring conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide.