The suspension of US foreign aid has had a devastating impact on humanitarian efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to Bruno Lemarquis, a senior UN official in the country.
He noted on February 12 that the DRC was the largest recipient of US humanitarian assistance in Africa, with 70% of the nation’s aid last year coming from Washington. The decision by US President Donald Trump to halt all international aid has exacerbated an already dire situation, as the conflict between the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group and the Congolese Army continues to worsen, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
The violence, particularly intense in the city of Goma, has left hospitals overwhelmed with casualties, damaged livelihoods, and a heightened risk of epidemics such as cholera and mpox. Lemarquis underlined that the suspension of US aid has had a crippling effect on vital services, with many humanitarian programmes unable to continue due to the funding freeze. Emergency health, shelter, and food aid programmes, which are crucial in this context, have been forced to shut down, leaving many Congolese without the support they desperately need.
The pause in US funding, part of President Trump’s broader “America First” foreign policy, has reverberated globally, disrupting critical services in various conflict zones. In addition to the DRC, other countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, and those benefiting from PEPFAR, a US-led programme addressing HIV, have seen their humanitarian efforts decimated. In Afghanistan, for example, the funding halt has forced health professionals to remain at home, jeopardising the lives of vulnerable mothers and children. The freeze on US foreign aid, which has already caused a major upheaval in global aid, continues to worsen the situation for those reliant on foreign assistance for survival.