Kinshasa (Congo), Jan 10 (AP) More than 100,000 people have been displaced since the start of the year in eastern Congo as a result of a new rebel offensive, according to a United Nations report released on Friday.

M23 rebels captured the town of Masisi on Monday, leading to a mass exodus of people in the face of a new offensive by the rebel group that saw them take over two strategic towns in the east of the country in less than a week.

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The newly displaced people add to the 2.8 million already displaced in the province of North Kivu, more than a third of the province's population, according to the UN.

M23, or the March 23 Movement, is a militant group composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army just over a decade ago. The group rose to prominence in 2012 when its fighters seized Goma, eastern Congo's largest city on the border with Rwanda.

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M23 is one of more than 100 armed groups that have been vying for territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world's largest humanitarian crises. All told, more than 7 million people have been displaced. (AP)

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