The group’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, earlier in the week was a dramatic escalation in a region that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.
The crisis has rattled the continent and international observers, with a southern African regional bloc holding an emergency summit in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare on Friday.
Local sources told AFP on Thursday that fighting was concentrated some 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the city of Kavumu.
The United Nations warned it was concerned by “credible reports that the M23 is moving rapidly towards the city of Bukavu”.
The Congolese army has yet to comment on the latest M23 advances but President Felix Tshisekedi said earlier this week that a “vigorous” military response was under way.
In Goma, residents have emerged to count the dead and search for food, as hospitals struggled to cope with the wounded.
The United Nations, United States, European Union, China, Britain, France and mediator Angola have all called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces.
‘Not Rwandans’
“The international community has its fair share of the blame in the current situation,“ she posted on X.
On Friday, the 16-nation Southern African Development Community will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the “worrying situation”.
The meeting follows soaring tensions between Kagame and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa after the deaths of 13 South African soldiers in DRC’s east.
‘We will not leave’
“We are in Goma and we will not leave,“ Corneille Nangaa, head of a coalition of groups including the M23, said on Thursday.
The offensive has heightened an already dire humanitarian crisis in the region, causing food and water shortages and forcing half a million people from their homes this month, the UN said.
The DRC has accused Rwanda of waging an offensive to profit from the region’s mineral wealth.
Rwanda has denied the accusations.
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