Some 7,000 people have died since January in fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the prime minister of the DRC told a high-level meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday,

Congo’s president says he is going to launch a unity government, as violence spreads across the country’s east and pressure mounts over his handling of the crisis.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi will launch a unity government, his spokesperson said on Saturday, as he faces domestic pressure over his handling of an offensive by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern provinces.

M23 rebels, supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, have been leading an insurgency in the central African country since last month. The rebels captured the eastern city of Goma,