Attachments
Description of the Event
Date when the trigger was met
20-03-2025
What happened, where and when?
The latest bout of fighting that initially started in North Kivu Province, around Goma City in December 2024 has steadily escalated towards Bukavu in the South Kivu, and other small towns of Masisi, Rutsuru, and Katale in North Kivu displacing half a million people in just a month, most of whom ran into neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi and others into Southwest and Western Uganda. Further, most of the asylum seekers entering Uganda through Lake Albert into Kikuube district during the month of February 2025 state that they are all coming as a result of continuous attack due to merging of the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) and M23 rebels, in addition to atrocities caused by several dozen armed groups operating in the Eastern DRC.
The risk of further displacement is high as conict and insecurity continue to dominate the region, with people aected coming from as far as Djugu-Ituri areas of Tchomia, Mungwalu, Dala, Joo, Gbii, Mabanga among others. Protection needs are spiraling as cyclical violence prevents displaced populations from returning to their homes and livelihoods, while conditions in sites where they have spontaneously settled deteriorate. This new inux is compounding the hardships already faced by refugees being hosted in Uganda, including the current outbreak of Mpox disease that started in 2024 and is continuing to spread, including among refugee population in Uganda. The new asylum seekers and refugees too are at greater risk of exposure to Sudan Ebola Virus Disease (SDV) that has so far infected 12 people causing 3 deaths in Uganda. The nearest case detected in Kyegegwa and Ntoroko districts that host DR Congo refugees in Kyaka II settlement and entry point for new refugees respectively places this risk a reality. In addition, there is a marked increase in gender-based violence (GBV) cases purportedly perpetrated against vulnerable women and girls, which will continue to expose the new arrivals if no intervention to protect them against these risks is put in place.
Scope and Scale
Data from the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR shows that the current number of new arrivals from the DRC into Uganda from January 2025 to 20th March 2025 has reached 30,083 people bringing the average monthly new arrivals from the DRC to 10,028, who have ed the escalating fresh violence in the Nord Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), seeking safety in the neighbouring Kisoro & Kanungu districts of Southwestern Uganda as well as Kikuube district in Western Uganda. Most of those fleeing are women and children. Prior to this crisis, Uganda had already been a host to 575,961 DRC refugees which formed 31.5% of the total hosted refugees as of 28 February 2025.
There are indicators of possible escalation with various SADEC and EAC regional blocks to broker peace that are in effect and have proved futile while inside the DRC reports indicate that the fighting continues to intensify spreading to wider geographical areas.
The UNHCR planning figures of potential new arrivals from the DRC into Uganda is 56,250 by September 2025, with a projection of 53% categorized as children below the age of five, 3% as elderly, and 8,438 (15%) expected to be Persons with Special needs (PSNs). However, more than half of this target has already been received as early as March 2025 with the current number of new arrivals from the DRC alone since January 2025 currently standing at 30,083 individuals, which could also be under-reported as more people enter the country from the various porous border points. This number is expected to grow rapidly due to the increasing daily arrival numbers from the various border points and the continued volatility of the situation inside the DR Congo.
Media reports indicate that the security situation in the whole of Eastern part of DRC remains volatile and unpredictable. Clashes between the M23 and other armed groups, including the FARDC, have caused significant displacement in and from eastern DRC. Most displacement remains internal, with nearly 5.7 million people displaced within the DRC. The humanitarian situation is deteriorating, with limited access to essential services.
With ongoing hostilities in North Kivu and South Kivu, people continue to ee into Uganda, as well as neighbouring countries. The main drivers of displacement, as reported by new arrivals, include the kidnapping of civilians for ransom, ongoing fighting between M23, militias, and government forces, arbitrary killings by unknown militia groups, night-time attacks and theft of property, widespread human rights abuses resulting from the ongoing conflict, hunger caused by insecurity preventing farming, and limited cases of family reunification. New arrivals are arriving in more vulnerable conditions, with higher rates of malnutrition and often with aggravating illnesses such as malaria.