Two million children in Congo at risk of starvation, U.N. warns

FILE PHOTO: Congolese children, displaced by fighting in North Kivu, play at the child friendly space (CFS) within Mugunga III camp for the internally displaced people near Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, August 7, 2013. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 2 million children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are estimated to be at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition if they do not get the aid they need, the United Nations warned on Friday.

U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock will meet donors next week in the country where conditions in many areas are worsening, U.N. spokesman Jens Laerke told a Geneva briefing.

"We have a great responsibility in the DRC...now is the time to stay the course," Laerke said.

Children from the Bantu and Pygmy communities attend a class at a school in Muhuya, in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, November 25, 2015. Picture taken November 25, 2015. REUTERS/Habibou Bangre

The 2 million children at risk of starvation include some 300,000 children in the Kasai region, Bettina Luescher of the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Tom Miles)