Local sources said Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province, after the rebel group’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels triggered the ongoing hostilities by launching an offensive north of Goma, on Oct. 26, 2023, in violation of the Luanda process.

The United Nations Security Council, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and senior U.N. officials are calling for the M23 to immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from occupied territories. They have called for the withdrawal of Rwandan forces and a return to the Luanda process of mediation overseen by Angolan President Joao Lourenco.

The United States urged the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to consider measures to halt an offensive by Rwandan troops and M23 rebel forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as a conflict there escalates.

Congolese forces were losing control of the city of Goma on Wednesday after rebel groups backed by Rwanda took over the airport and shared plans to set up a new administration.

Troops from Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have been firing at each other across their shared border in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, where Rwandan-backed rebels launched an offensive,

Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces rages around the key eastern city of Goma.

In 2012, when M23 rebels appeared poised to seize control of a major city in eastern Congo, western countries suspended aid to put pressure on Rwanda to withdraw its support.

The rebel leader whose fighters have captured Goma, the biggest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has vowed to continue their offensive all the way to the capital, Kinshasa. Corneille Nangaa, who heads an alliance of rebel groups that includes the M23, said their ultimate aim was to topple President Félix Tshisekedi's government.

The Rwanda-backed armed group M23 vowed on Thursday to march on the DR Congo capital, Kinshasa, as its fighters made further advances in the mineral-rich east of the country. "We will continue the march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa,

Diplomatic sources say the bloc is facing calls to suspend its wide-ranging minerals agreement with Rwanda amid fears it is inflaming the escalating conflict in eastern DRC. View on euronews