The conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) officially broke out on 23 January 2025. The offensive on the town of Goma began on the same day. On 26 January, M23 rebel forces entered Goma, marking a significant turning point in the conflict. This war has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent years, resulting in large-scale population displacement and an influx of refugees.

On 26 January 2025, rebels from the M23 (also known as the 23 March Movement or Congolese Revolutionary Army) invaded the town of Goma. According to DEVPOLICYBLOG, the fighting was horrific, displacing 480,000 people and exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis in the region. The same source quoted the United Nations as saying that 70,000 emergency shelters had been destroyed by heavy artillery, leaving around 250,000 internally displaced people homeless.

ReliefWeb states that the conflict has resulted in a record 7.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the DRC, with 103,000 people seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, including 70,000 in Burundi and almost 29,000 in Uganda. The Council on Foreign Relations, CFR, based in the United States, ” adds that around 1.1 million Congolese have sought refuge outside the DRC.

Between 1  and 27 April, Uganda received 22,589 asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This brings the total number of new arrivals since January 2025 to 60,569. This represents a 603% increase compared to the same period in 2024, according to ReliefWeb estimates.

The Commission on Population Movements, quoted by ReliefWeb, stated that the province of Ituri alone recorded around 41,000 new displacements between February and March 2025 due to an increase in inter-community violence. Ituri is currently home to more than 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). By the end of March 2025, the M23 crisis had displaced around 1.2 million people in the provinces of North and South Kivu, according to the IOM.

ReliefWeb reports that “between 1,500 and 2,000 people were forcibly deported from Goma to Rwanda by M23 and Rwandan forces – a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”