DE CAPUA -- DRC HUNGER 8 - 14 - 17

U-N humanitarian agencies warn that hunger is on rise in central and eastern DRC, due to escalating violence, prolonged conflict and displacement. They estimate seven point seven million people now face acute hunger -- a 30 percent increase over last year. The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization say the crises in the Kasai and Tanganyika regions are made worse by an invasion of fall army worms, along with outbreaks of cholera and measles. Nearly two million people have been displaced over the past year in the two regions, mostly in Kasai. That brings the total number of displaced in the DRC Alexis Bonte is the interim FAO representative in Kinshasa. He spoke to VOA’s Joe De Capua.