Forcibly displaced to surge by 6.7 mln in 2025-2026: aid group

COPENHAGEN

Feb. 7, 2024, the barely displaced people who come to the Masisi territory are fleeing the clashes between the M23 and FARDC in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the SADC soldiers on the road.

Wars and attacks on civilians are expected to drive 6.7 million people from their homes worldwide over the next two years, humanitarian organization the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) said Friday.

But the DRC said the "devastating" withdrawal of international aid by the United States, U.K. and Germany has left millions of vulnerable people without essential support.

"We live in an age of war and impunity, and civilians are paying the heaviest price," DRC secretary general Charlotte Slente said in a statement.

The number of displaced people worldwide was currently 122.6 million, the DRC said.

The organization said its Global Displacement Forecast showed a "staggering spike" of 4.2 million people was expected in 2025 -- the highest forecasted by DRC since 2021.

Another 2.5 million forced displacements were expected in 2026.

Civil wars in Sudan and Myanmar will account for nearly half of all projected displacements.

Sudan - "the world's most urgent humanitarian crisis" - will account for nearly a third of new displacements, it said, noting that 12.6 million people had already been displaced inside Sudan and to neighbouring countries.

"Starvation has been used as a weapon of war, pushing the country from one catastrophic famine to another," the report said.

In Myanmar, a multi-front civil war has intensified and resulted in 3.5 million people displaced, and nearly 20 million people, or a third of the population, is in need of humanitarian assistance, DRC said.

It predicted the country would see another 1.4 million forced displacements by the end of 2026.

Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Yemen and Venezuela were also expected to see a surge in displacements due to armed conflict, climate change, the legacy of war, and socio-economic instability.

Of the 6.7 million people forecasted to be displaced by the end of 2026, some 70 percent will be internally displaced, DRC said.

DRC's Slente blasted US President Donald Trump's decision to cancel 83 percent of USAID's humanitarian aid programmes around the world as a "betrayal of the most vulnerable".

"We're in the middle of a global 'perfect storm': record displacement, surging needs, and devastating funding cuts," she said.

"Major donors are abandoning their duty, leaving millions to suffer. This is more than a crisis. It is a moral failure."