Uhuru calls for immediate ceasefire after fighting intensifies in DR Congo

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for an immediate ceasefire as fighting intensified in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr Kenyatta who is also the facilitator of the East African Community-led Nairobi Process on the Restoration of Peace and Stability in eastern DRC on Tuesday condemned the reported escalation of hostilities, killings and displacements in the volatile region.

"The facilitator appeals to all parties engaged in such acts to immediately cease their armed offensives and hostilities, so as to allow continued, unhindered and sustained humanitarian access and to give a chance to a return to peace and the pursuit of a non-military solution to the crisis in the region," a statement released by Mr Kenyatta read in part.

Clashes have intensified in DR Congo's east where the national army has deployed in areas it was chased out of at the start of the year, the United Nations and local sources said Monday.

After a six-month lull, fighting resumed this month between local armed groups and the M23 rebel movement in North Kivu province, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

At least 20 civilians have been killed and 30 more wounded since "the resurgence of violent clashes" in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), OCHA said.

"More than 84,700 people had been forced to flee their homes," OCHA said, noting access to aid "remained greatly restrained" due to the "intensification of the fighting".

Fighting is centred on areas where an East African force of several thousand deployed in early 2023, in theory, to patrol a buffer zone between the armed groups.

Additional reporting by AFP