Millions of people are facing hunger in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as foreign aid evaporates, the United Nations said on Thursday, warning the crisis risked triggering region-wide instability.

Nearly 27 million people in the DRC face "crisis levels of food insecurity or worse" by early next year, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme said.

That includes nearly four million people in emergency levels of hunger, it added.

Three decades of conflict in which different factions have fought over DRC's rich mineral resources have claimed thousands of lives in its restive east.

Emergency funding

The UN warned that the African country was being hit hard by a sharp drop in foreign aid, speaking out on the eve of an international conference in Paris aimed at finding emergency donor funding for eastern DRC.

The World Food Programme said a lack of funds had forced it to slash the number of people receiving its assistance in the DRC from 2.3 million to 600,000 this year, as its deficit ballooned to $349 million.

It called for $127 million in emergency funding, warning it would have to end all assistance in the DRC from February without more money.

"Millions of lives are at risk, and regional stability will suffer," Cynthia Jones, the organisation's acting country director, said.

Children face hunger

"The time to act is now – before the cost becomes irreversible."

More than three million children in the country of 109 million people suffer from stunted growth because of chronic malnutrition, the UN said.