KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — More than 100,000 people have been displaced since the start of the year in eastern Congo as a result of a new rebel offensive, according to a United Nations report released Friday.
M23 rebels captured the town of Masisi on Monday, leading to a mass exodus of people in the face of a new offensive by the rebel group that saw them take over two strategic towns in the east of the country in less than a week.
The newly displaced people add to the 2.8 million already displaced in the province of North Kivu, more than a third of the province’s population, according to the U.N.
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M23, or the March 23 Movement, is a militant group composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army just over a decade ago. The group rose to prominence in 2012 when its fighters seized Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city on the border with Rwanda.
M23 is one of more than 100 armed groups that have been vying for territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. All told, more than 7 million people have been displaced.
