The Democratic Republic of Congo is faring worse than humanitarian groups previously thought, and a donor conference is required to halt widespread starvation and disease as financial needs for the crisis have doubled, according to the World Food Programme’s country director, Claude Jibidar.

His comments come as aid groups warned on Wednesday that the displacement crisis in DRC is outstripping those in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, with 1.7 million people forced to flee their homes.

Jibidar said 13 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance, with many forced from their homes by fighting between rival militias and government forces in the Kasai region stretching from DRC’s southern border with Angola, Tanganyika in the south-east, and neighboring South Kivu, further north.

In November 2016, Jibidar and his colleagues had foreseen funding needs for 2017 of $812 million, he said.

As of today we have received less than $390 million. But guess what? 2018 is an even worse situation than 2017.

Read the full article on the World Food Programme by Vince Chadwick at Devex International Development