M23 issued a 72-hour ultimatum for displaced people to vacate settlement camps and return to their villages.

According to the Associated Press, M23 rebels controlling cities in eastern Congo have forcibly shut down settlement camps, displacing more than 110,000 people in recent days, the United Nations and local sources reported on Tuesday.

M23, the most prominent of over 100 armed groups vying for control of mineral-rich eastern Congo, seized Goma—the region’s largest city—in late January, marking a major escalation in the prolonged conflict with government forces.

The rebels’ advance into Goma has resulted in at least 2,000 deaths in and around the city, according to Congolese authorities.

In a move that further deepened the humanitarian crisis, M23 issued a 72-hour ultimatum for displaced people to vacate settlement camps and return to their villages, the U.N.’s humanitarian aid coordination agency, OCHA, stated in its Tuesday briefing. The rebels claimed their priority was to restore normalcy in the city.

Although they later clarified that the returns should be voluntary, OCHA reported that over 110,000 displaced people had left the camps, relocating to distant villages where aid groups warn humanitarian assistance is even harder to reach.

The Associated Press described scenes of displaced families in Goma’s settlement camps dismantling makeshift shelters and gathering the few belongings they had left.

“I am surprised because we are asked to leave, yet I have nothing to give to the children,” said Sibomana Safari, who was departing from Bulengo displacement camp in the city. “We all are leaving without any help, and I don’t know if we’re going to make it,” he added.

According to the Forum of International Non-Governmental Organisations, at least 500,000 people have been displaced in the region since M23’s recent offensive. Prior to the escalation of fighting on February 26, Goma was already hosting nearly a million displaced individuals.

“The situation is extremely worrying,” said Oonagh Curry, an emergency coordinator for the French medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

“The current situation is very fluid. It is extremely important to keep in mind that a sudden movement of a population can worsen the humanitarian crisis that was already underway,” she added.

Despite the rebels declaring a unilateral ceasefire last week, local reports indicate continued pockets of fighting between M23 and government forces as the rebels push toward South Kivu’s provincial capital, Bukavu.