The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been told it must remove SPLM-IO in the country, according to a report from the BBC.

After fighting in the capital of Juba, forces loyal to rebel leader Riek Machar fled to the DRC where they initially found sanctuary in the Garamba National Park in the country's far northeast near the border with South Sudan.

Later the UN mission in the country evacuated them on "humanitarian" grounds - many were presumably wounded or sick of malaria or exhaustion from their travels through Western Equatoria en route to Congo.

Machar himself was eventually flown to Sudan, but at least 700 fighters remained in the eastern part of the DRC near Goma. The UN has now been given one week by the Congolese government to fly the soldiers out of the country, according to the BBC, which added that there had been local protests against their presence.

The eastern part of DRC has seen instability in past decades, and many fear a return to conflict. President Joseph Kabila has not ruled out running for a third term, which could see instability in the country. 

File photo: SPLM-IO soldiers arriving in Juba earlier this year.