Nairobi, Kinshasa  - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Tuesday called on warring factions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to respect the civilian population.

The ICRC said over 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee since fighting resumed between renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda's forces and government troops in late August.

"We have been witnessing a major deterioration in the humanitarian situation ... since the resumption of hostilities," said Max Hadorn, head of the ICRC delegation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The clashes are the most serious since various rebel groups in January signed up to peace accords designed to end sporadic clashes that occurred in 2007, four years after the war in the DRC officially ended.

Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and government soldiers have been involved in repeated firefights in the eastern North and South Kivu provinces, with more than 250 ceasefire violations recorded.

Amnesty International on Monday said the recruitment of child soldiers has dramatically increased in recent months.

Over 5 million people are estimated to have died as a result of the long conflict in the resource-rich Central African nation.

The conflict is often referred to as the African World War due to the large number of different armed forces involved. (dpa)