The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called for the protection of civilians and access to aid in the wake of last week's upsurge in violence between government forces and non-state armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The UN refugee agency, in a statement issued late Wednesday, said it was deeply concerned by the dire consequences for civilians, including an estimated 135,000 internally displaced people fleeing the town of Sake toward the nearby city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, where tensions have been on the rise with intensive fighting between the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23).