ROME (AP) — The U.N. food aid agency is stepping up its relief operation to help people displaced by conflict in Congo.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that the renewed inter-ethnic violence has forced tens of thousands or more from their homes.

The U.N. World Food Program, with headquarters in Rome, described Congo as the world's second-largest hunger crisis, after Yemen. It says the Congo has 5 million malnourished children.