KINSHASA, Congo — More than 7,000 people have died this year as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured unprecedented amounts of territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo, Congo’s prime minister said Monday.

Judith Suminwa Tuluka told the U.N. Human Rights Council that the security and humanitarian situation in the region “has reached alarming levels.”

The conflict has accelerated in recent weeks, with the rebels taking the key city of Goma in January and Bukavu, another provincial capital, a few weeks later. M23 is the most potent of about 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in Congo’s east, which contains trillions of dollars of mostly untapped mineral wealth crucial to the world’s technology.

The U.N. has warned of a wider threat to the region, which has seen decades of simmering conflict that has displaced millions.

The M23 has spoken of unseating the government of Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi in distant Kinshasa, which has long had a tenuous grip on the east. The rebels are attempting to gain more ground despite calls for a ceasefire, bolstered by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, a short drive from Goma.

M23 leaders have vowed to “cleanse” cities of alleged bad governance and insecurity. They now threaten the city of Uriva, where gunfire was reported over the weekend.

M23 says it’s fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform Congo from a failed state to a modern one.

Analysts have called those pretexts for Rwanda’s involvement.

Witnesses in Goma have asserted that the M23’s intelligence branch is searching for former Congolese soldiers and criminals but some people are misidentified. They asserted that 11 young people were killed Sunday while waiting for a weightlifting class in the city after being misidentified as thieves.

McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal.

previous coverage

• As Rwanda-backed rebels seized Goma, the families of Congolese soldiers became a target
• Rwanda expresses solidarity with military general sanctioned by the US over violence in Congo
• The US sanctions a Rwanda official and a rebel spokesperson over violence in eastern Congo
• Ugandan forces enter eastern Congolese city of Bunia to back up local troops
• Residents say Rwanda-backed rebels are advancing on a third city in eastern Congo
• Rwanda-backed rebels tighten their grip on a major city in eastern Congo
• Congo says Rwanda-backed rebels occupy a second major city in its mineral-rich east
• Rwanda-backed rebels advance into eastern Congo’s 2nd major city of Bukavu, residents say