"In Bukavu, foreigners are fleeing," missionaries from the capital of the Congolese province of South Kivu tell Fides. "The various embassies in Kinshasa have ordered their compatriots to leave the city because they fear that the M23 rebels could conquer it after taking control of Goma and the province of North Kivu,

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.

In recent weeks, the armed conflict in the DRC between the M23/AFC and the Congolese army, backed by their allies, has flared up again in the province of North Kivu and spread to the neighbouring province of South Kivu.

As an East African bloc urged an immediate ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwandan-backed M23 rebels who seized the city of Goma extended their advance on Wednesday, and Congo said it planned a campaign to recover lost territory.

The humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is "not just a regional concern but a global responsibility," a UN spokesperson said Tuesday.

Regional tensions spiral as peacekeepers killed in fighting following Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group offensive

Congo’s leader has called on young people to enlist in the army to help fight Rwanda-backed rebels attempting to seize more territory in the country’s conflict-battered east

Internally displaced civilians from the camps in Munigi and Kibati, carry their belongings as they flee following the fight between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, January 26, 2025.

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

On January 27, M23 rebels, a group synonymous with the March 23 Movement claimed that they had taken over Goma, on the

Already the Ruto-led talks started on a wrong footing on Wednesday, January 29 after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi snubbed a meeting to discuss the security crisis in his Eastern DRC but confirmed attendance of a separate meeting convened by southern African countries.