Emile Bolingo is not sure how long he and other residents of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), can hold out.
This major city in the region, with about two million people, has been cut off from the farms that feed it for several days.
It is the latest episode in a resurgence of fighting that has seen tens of thousands added to the nearly seven million who have been forced from their homes in the country because of multiple conflicts.
Bolingo, a 35-year-old teacher, says he has not been able to buy fresh food since last week, when the main road connecting Goma to the rest of the province was blocked by armed groups.
“We are living on rice and beans, but the prices are going up every day. We don’t know when this will end,” he told Dailymail.com by phone.
He says he is also worried about his safety, as the city has been under constant threat of attacks by rebels and militias, who have been fighting for control of the mineral-rich region for decades.
Last month, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in DRC, known as MONUSCO, said it had repelled several attempts by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist group, to infiltrate Goma.
The ADF is one of the dozens of armed groups that operate in the eastern DRC, where a complex web of ethnic, political, and economic rivalries fuels the violence.
The situation has worsened since December, when the DRC government declared a state of siege in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, where Goma is located, and replaced civilian authorities with military and police officers.
The move was meant to restore security and stability, but critics say it has failed to address the root causes of the conflict and has instead increased human rights violations and abuses by the security forces.
According to the UN, more than 2,000 civilians were killed and over 1.6 million were displaced in the two provinces in 2020, making it the worst year for civilian casualties since 2014.
The UN also warned that the humanitarian situation in the region is “catastrophic”, with more than five million people facing acute food insecurity and 1.4 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
The UN has appealed for $1.98 billion to provide humanitarian assistance to 10.5 million people in need in the DRC in 2021, but so far only 11 percent of the funds have been received.
Bolingo says he hopes the international community will pay more attention to the plight of the people in Goma and the eastern DRC, and help them find a lasting solution to the conflict.
“We are tired of living in fear and hunger. We want peace and development. We want to have a normal life like other people in the world,” he said.
