U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for a urgent cease-fire in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo saying Washington was "deeply troubled" by a recent escalation in the fighting.
A conflict that has raged for decades reached a flashpoint this week when rebels backed by Rwanda marched on a key Congolese city in a bid to occupy territory and exploit minerals.
The Rwanda Defense Force reported escorting hundreds of "Romanian mercenaries" out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after seizing Goma.
Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces rages around the key eastern city of Goma.
Rwanda-backed rebels claimed they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped, the Associated Press reported.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who’s been mediating peace talks between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, called for the withdrawal of Rwandan-backed M23 rebels from the city of Goma and for Rwandan troops to leave Congolese territory.
France expresses its solidarity regarding the Democratic Republic of Congo and condemns actions by Rwanda in the country, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday.
The M23 militia, funded and directed by Rwanda, said it had seized the city of Goma, terrifying its people, many of whom sought shelter there after fleeing the rebel advance.
Protesters in Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, have been burning portraits of Rwanda's president and tearing up Rwandan flags as M23 rebels have taken control of most the eastern city of Goma.
The United States told Rwanda it was "deeply troubled" by the fall of Goma in eastern Congo to Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, who appeared on Wednesday to have consolidated control over the city of nearly 2 million in just two days.
Rebels claim to have captured the key city of Goma in the DRC, as the decades-long conflict becomes even more volatile. Sky News takes a look at what's going on.