Through a statement released Monday, the U.N's International Organization for Migration, IOM, said several people that fled their homes but stayed within the DRC's boarders are in desperate need of assistance with meeting their basic needs.
"The IOM is intensifying its efforts to address the complex and persistent crisis in the DRC as the number of internally displaced people, IDPs, climbs to 6.9 million people across the country — the highest number recorded yet," read the IOM's statement.
"With ongoing conflict and escalating violence, the DRC is facing one of the largest internal displacement and humanitarian crises in the world," added the statement.
The IOM said as of October 2023, approximately 5.6 million IDPs were living in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika.
"Conflict has been reported as the primary reason for displacement," it said.
IOM's statement were in reference to the conflict in DRC's eastern province of North Kivu, particularly north of the provincial capital Goma, where clashes have intensified between national forces and the Mouvement du 23 Mars rebels, popularly known as M23.
The M23, which has captured swathes of territory in the eastern DRC since 2021, is one of several militias holding sway over much of the region despite the presence of international peacekeepers.
In North Kivu up to one million people have been displaced due the ongoing conflict with the M23.
The IOM said, "as the security situation, particularly in North Kivu and Ituri, continues to deteriorate, movements become more frequent and humanitarian needs soar."
Fabien Sambussy, the IOM's DRC mission chief, added, "for decades, the Congolese people have been living through a storm of crises."
Sambussy said, "the most recent escalation of the conflict has uprooted more people in less time like rarely seen before. We urgently need to deliver help to those most in need."
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