With Kagame indicating that relations with Tshisekedi have broken down amid an escalating M23 war, the future can't be bleaker.

In eastern Congo, at least 10 people have been killed by extremist rebels linked to the Islamic State. The Allied Democratic Forces attacked a village in North Kivu province, prompting calls for expanded joint military operations with Uganda to counter the persistent violence in the region.

At least 10 people were killed in eastern Congo by extremist rebels linked to the Islamic State group, a local official said Wednesday.

Rebel group M23 have captured two more towns in North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local sources say, after fierce fighting on Saturday afternoon. Masisi-Centre and Lushebere in northeast Kivu came under rebel control after the Congolese army made a “strategic withdrawal to avoid collateral damage among civilians.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo is mulling cutting diplomatic ties and ditching joint projects with Uganda over tweets by military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba disparaging the country and threatening to invade it.

The Congolese army says several towns that fell to armed groups in the eastern North Kivu and South Kivu provinces have been recaptured by government forces.

Lt. Col. Ndjike Kaiko Guillaume, the FARDC spokesperson for North Kivu province, announced the launch of “Operation Caterpillar 2,” an offensive aimed at dislodging M23 rebels from their positions across the province.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is alarmed by the worsening violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has already displaced 237,000 people this year. Escalating clashes between non-state armed groups and the Congolese army in North and South Kivu provinces are intensifying one of the world’s most alarming yet under-reported humanitarian crises,

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has called on Congolese authorities to open negotiations with the M23 rebel group

Rebel forces backed by Rwanda have captured the town of Masisi in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to various reports. This is the second town seized by the M23 group in as many days in the mineral-rich North Kivu province.

Rwanda backtracked Wednesday from an earlier claim that it had discovered its first oil reserves in Lake Kivu, saying it was still in an exploratory phase and looking for partners.

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki on Friday, moved to calm the restive Embu County where President William Ruto and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi have encountered expressions of discontent.