REUTERS/Paul... Acquire Licensing Rights Read moreJOHANNESBURG, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Conflict and escalating violence have uprooted a record 6.9 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, mostly in the east of the country, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday.
Years of rebel conflict and recurrent natural disasters have helped fuel one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world.
Most of those forced to flee their homes live in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri and Tanganyika, according to the data collected by the United Nations.
In North Kivu alone, up to one million people have been displaced due the ongoing conflict with a Tutsi-led rebel group M23, IOM said.
The most recent escalation of the conflict has uprooted more people in less time like rarely seen before," said Fabien Sambussy, IOM's head of mission in Congo.
Persons:
Paul, Fabien Sambussy, Anait, Tomasz Janowski
Organizations:
United Nations Organization Stabilization, Democratic, REUTERS, International Organization for Migration, United Nations, IOM, Thomson
Locations:
Democratic Republic of, Congo, Djugu's, Ituri's province, Democratic Republic of Congo, JOHANNESBURG, North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, Tanganyika, Congolese