Up to 300 members of the Congolese community have staged a protest in Dublin city centre.
The demonstration from O'Connell Street to Leinster House was aimed at raising awareness about the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo caused by months of violence.
The UN has begun distributing food in rebel-held territory in the DR Congo, the first large-scale delivery in the area since fighting broke out in late October.
A UN spokesman said more than 100 tonnes of food were going to 60,000 civilians in the area north of the provincial capital Goma over the next four days.
Fighting between the army and fighters loyal to Laurent Nkunda, a renegade general who claims to be fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis and to oust the government, has displaced at least 250,000 people.
The conflict has resulted in what the UN called a humanitarian catastrophe and has sparked fears of a broader war.
For the first time after weeks of fighting, UN aid workers yesterday handed out rations of maize and lentils to the first of at least 50,000 civilians in Rutshuru territory, the scene of weeks of battles between rebel and government forces.
There are fears fighting could escalate into a repeat of a 1998-2003 war that involved six African states and led to millions of deaths.
Meanwhile, UN special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian president, is in the country for talks aimed at ending the violence.
After meeting President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa, Mr Obasanjo is to travel to Goma, where he has said he wants to meet Mr Nkunda.
Mr Obasanjo's visit follows yesterday's announcement that Rwanda and DR Congo have agreed to work together to deal with forces along their common border blamed for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Mr Obasanjo said details of his hoped-for meeting with dissident General Nkunda were still being worked out.
‘Yesterday, by telephone, I spoke to my brother Nkunda… everything will be done to meet with him face-to-face,’ he told reporters at Luanda airport, before leaving for Kinshasa.
Mr Obasanjo said he was hopeful his mission could achieve peace.
