After capturing Goma, the main city in North Kivu province, last week, the M23 and Rwandan troops launched a new offensive on Wednesday in a neighbouring province.

Goma remains “under occupation” by Congo’s M23 rebels and the ceasefire they announced has been broken as their forces engage in heavy fighting along the main route to South Kivu’s main city Bukavu.

The rebels continued advances in eastern Congo despite their own announcement of a cease-fire. The U.N. secretary-general called for them to lay down their guns and agree to mediation.

United Nations agencies called for an end to the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as fighting between

Congolese M23 rebels are seen as they withdraw from the 3 antennes location in Kibumba, near Goma, North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo on December 23, 2022.

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have seized control of a mining town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu province, eight sources said on Wednesday, in an apparent violation of a unilateral ceasefire they declared this week.

The group has made dramatic advances in Congo’s North Kivu province since re-emerging as a force in late 2021. It has repeatedly denied receiving support from Rwanda. And the government in Kigali equivocates about its support for the rebels.

Rwanda-backed rebels gained ground in eastern Congo on Wednesday despite the unilateral ceasefire they declared earlier this week, taking control of a town 60 miles from the provincial capital of Bukavu,