Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) bilaterally, and (2) internationally, to safeguard the children of the Kasai region of the Congo from dying from starvation; and what steps they are taking to ensure that the funds of the World Food Programme are adequate to support work in that region.

My colleague, the Minister for Africa, Rory Stewart visited Kasai Central, in the DRC, in November 2017 to see for himself the impact of the conflict. 294,000 children are at risk of dying from malnutrition. UK bilateral aid is already supporting 25,800 children with lifesaving assistance. Over the next 5 years we will support a further 220,000 children under the age of 5 with vital nutrition. We support the World Food Programme (WFP) operated humanitarian air service ensuring that vital aid is delivered to those in need. However, the humanitarian appeal in DRC remains chronically underfunded. This needs an urgent international response and the UK Government is actively lobbying the international community to increase its response to this forgotten crisis.