More than 390,000 people have become internally displaced due to the persistent armed conflict between non-state armed actor the March 23 Movement (M23) and the army in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday.

Since the end of March 2022, the M23 has been on the offensive in the eastern DRC province of North Kivu.

The majority of the displaced, 53 percent, stay with local host communities, putting an additional strain on already scarce resources and increasing food insecurity, OCHA said in a statement, noting that around 679,000 people need humanitarian assistance in the territories of Rutshuru, Lubero and Nyiragongo, all located in the North Kivu province.

While access is hampered, humanitarian organizations continue to assist displaced persons, reaching 130,000 persons so far. According to the statement, the focus is on emergency shelters, food, health, water, hygiene and protection, as well as education in emergencies.

Around $50 million is urgently needed to cover the most basic needs of the most vulnerable 315,000 people, and  91,000 Congolese people have sought asylum in neighboring Uganda since the beginning of the year, which continues to stretch Uganda's reception and protection capacity, it said.

Since May 2022, the M23 has occupied several villages in DRC's North Kivu. At the end week of November, the M23 and the Congolese army clashed in Kibumba, about 20 kilometers from Goma, the capital of North Kivu and the largest city in eastern DRC.

These clashes, during which sounds of heavy and light weapons had been heard on the outskirts of Goma, caused panic in the sites of the displaced, pushing thousands of asylum seekers to flee toward the city.

On November 23, a mini-summit in Luanda, the capital of Angola, which Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi also took part in, set a timetable that demanded an immediate ceasefire and an ultimatum asking the M23 to leave the occupied areas to allow a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis.

(With input from Xinhua)