More than 100,000 children have been displaced by the latest escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UNICEF said on Sunday, warning the numbers are expected to rise as violence spreads.
Since Dec. 1, intense fighting has uprooted more than 500,000 people, with children accounting for over 100,000 of those displaced in South Kivu alone, the UN agency said in a statement released Sunday.
It said since Dec. 2, hundreds have been killed in the fighting, and children have been among the victims, with four students killed, six injured, and at least seven schools attacked or damaged.
The rapid escalation has forced hundreds of thousands of children and families to flee within Congo and into neighboring Burundi and Rwanda, it added.
Many people fleeing the violence have crossed into Burundi, with over 50,000 new arrivals reported between Dec. 6 and 11, nearly half of them children, UNICEF said, adding that the numbers are expected to rise as more displaced are identified.
"Children must never pay the price of conflict," it urged.
M23 rebels have recently advanced across several areas of the South Kivu province despite the Congo-Rwanda agreement signed in Washington.
The rebel group controls significant territory, including the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu, which it seized earlier this year.
The UN, Kinshasa, and others accuse neighboring Rwanda of supporting M23, which Kigali denies.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that "Rwanda's actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords signed by President Trump."
He warned that Washington "will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept."
On Dec. 4, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame signed in Washington a "historic" peace and economic agreement aimed at putting an end to the fighting in eastern Congo.
The agreement was signed following a peace agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump in June.
Violence has persisted in eastern Congo for decades, killing thousands and displacing millions.
