he World Food Programme says it is feeding over 80,000 people displaced by fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as rebels advance in the country’s east.

Thousands have been displaced by fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo and are in need of food, the World Food Programme said.

African leaders are scrambling to contain the latest violence in eastern Congo, where M23 rebels are advancing in the east of the country. Many of the people who fled their homes are looking to return, but thousands are still living in camps as the conflict drags on.

At the Mugunga Camp outside Goma, a city that was taken by the rebels last week, children sit outside makeshift huts made from branches and bark.

After briefly suspending food distribution last week over security concerns, the WFP says it is now providing food to over 80,000 people across several camps.

Rebel M23 fighters are eight months into an insurgency that U.N. experts say is backed by Rwanda. Leaders flew to Uganda for talks aimed at convincing the rebels to withdraw on Monday.

The World Food Programme says it is feeding over 80,000 people displaced by fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as rebels advance in the country’s east.

“Today we are assisting in 12 sites some 80,000 people with a three-day ration of maize, meal, pulses, oil and salt. They are all war displaced population. Some of them are going home to their origin in Rutshuru, others are forced still to stay in the camps.”

STORY: Thousands have been displaced by fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo and are in need of food, the World Food Programme said on Monday (November 26).

African leaders are scrambling to contain the latest violence in eastern Congo, where M23 rebels are advancing in the east of the country.

Many of the people who fled their homes are looking to return, but thousands are still living in camps as the conflict drags on.

At the Mugunga Camp outside Goma, a city that was taken by the rebels last week, children sit outside makeshift huts made from branches and bark.

After briefly suspending food distribution last week over security concerns, the WFP says it is now providing food to over 80,000 people across several camps.

“Today we are assisting in 12 sites some 80,000 people with a three-day ration of maize, meal, pulses, oil and salt. They are all war displaced population. Some of them are going home to their origin in Rutshuru, others are forced still to stay in the camps,” WFP spokesman in Goma, Wolfram Herfurth, said.

The fighting has raised fears for the safety of civilians and of a worsening refugee crisis, as well as triggering protests targeting the government and the United Nations by people furious at them for failing to stop the rebels’ advance.

Rebel M23 fighters are eight months into an insurgency that U.N. experts say is backed by Rwanda.

Leaders flew to Uganda for talks aimed at convincing the rebels to withdraw on Monday.

The DRC has been plagued by nearly two decades of conflict, fuelled by political and ethnic rifts and competition over vast minerals resources.

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Audio: NATURAL WITH ENGLISH SPEECH

Locations: MUNIGI AND MUGUNGA CAMP, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Source: WFP