Government troops of the Democratic Republic of Congo have taken control of a number of eastern towns for the first time in eight months, after the March 23 movement (M23) rebels, weakened by infighting, withdrew from the territory.

The Congolese Army took over the towns of Rutshuru and Kiwanja on Friday night to protect the citizens from bandits and armed gangs who had taken advantage of the situation to prey upon civilians, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) said on Saturday.

"Since last night, those areas are under government control. (M23) left those areas and it is for us, the regular forces, to take our responsibilities and secure them… against the pillaging, rape, and killings," Colonel Olivier Hamuli stated.

Later in the day, an M23 spokesman called the government action a "pure provocation" and said the rebels were en route to recapture the towns.

"There is a risk (of clashes) because the government has left its positions and come to provoke us. M23 warns Kinshasa and the international community that anything that happens now is the government's responsibility," Colonel Vianney Kazarama said.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday that over 4,000 refugees crossed into Uganda on Thursday night to escape clashes between armed factions of the M23, one of them led by a renegade general wanted on war-crimes charges.

The fighting broke out on Thursday after M23 military chief Sultani Makenga sacked the group's political leader, Jean-Marie Runiga, for his alleged links with renegade Bosco Ntaganda, prompting fighters to turn their weapons on each other.

Ntaganda, known by the nom de guerre "Terminator" due to his brutal methods, has been wanted by the International Criminal Court since 2006 on charges of committing the war crimes of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of fifteen and using them to participate actively in hostilities.

The M23 rebels defected from the Congolese Army in April 2012 in protest over alleged mistreatment in the FARDC. They had previously been integrated into the Congolese Army under a peace deal signed in 2009.

Since early May 2012, nearly 3 million people have fled their homes in the eastern Congo. About 2.5 million have resettled in Congo, but more than 460,000 have crossed into neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.

Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades, such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on since 1998 and left over 5.5 million people dead.