UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The humanitarian situation in conflict-wracked eastern Congo has deteriorated alarmingly in the past 18 months with 8 million people in urgent need of assistance and women and girls subjected to sexual violence on a massive scale -- just in three provinces, a senior U.N. official said Tuesday. M23 rose to prominence in 2012 when its fighters seized Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city on the border with Rwanda. Recently, attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces, which is believed to have ties to the Islamic State extremist group, have also spiked along with intercommunal violence. The scale of suffering and insufficient funding have left humanitarian workers in the impossible situation every day of deciding whether to prioritize water, shelter or medical support for the constant stream of newly displaced people. And one result of the overwhelming needs is that thousands and thousands of children aren’t able to go to school, she said.

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Persons: Edem Wosornu, “, ”, Wosornu, Gabriella Waaijman, and.one, aren’t, Waaijman, ” Waaijman Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, Allied Democratic Forces, State, London, International Locations: Congo, U.N, North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, Rwanda, Goma, Congo’s