Since January, approximately 7,000 people have died in the ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the Prime Minister of the DRC, Judith Suminwa, who spoke at a high-level meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

Violence raging in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed "more than 7,000 compatriots", many of them civilians, since last month, the Congolese premier said Monday.The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has seized large swathes of the mineral-rich eastern DRC -- including the main cities of Goma and Bukavu -- in the face of limited resistance from Congolese forces.

Health experts say an unknown illness first discovered in three children who ate a bat has rapidly killed more than 50 people in northwestern Congo over the past five weeks.