DR Congo and the UN’s humanitarian arm on Wednesday appealed for $2.25 billion in aid this year for the central African country, which is impoverished and wracked by conflict in the east.

In a statement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the funds would meet the “critical needs” of 10 million people, in the country of about 100 million.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world, despite having vast reserves of copper, cobalt and other minerals.

Much of the east of the country is also plagued by militias. One rebel group, the M23, has seized swathes of territory since late 2021, prompting hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Over 26 million people in the DRC suffer from food insecurity, according to OCHA, while conflict has displaced 5.7 million people — the largest number in Africa.

OCHA humanitarian coordinator Bruno Lemarquis called the crisis one of the largest in the world, as well as one of the oldest and most complex.

“The needs are enormous,” he told AFP, noting that the DRC’s plight tended to go “under the radar”