United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where fierce fighting raged as Kigali-backed fighters closed in on the major city of Goma.

It was around 1:25 am, in the wee hours of Monday, January 27, when the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator to Rwanda, Ozonnia Ojielo, received an official letter from his counterpart in DR Congo,

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels triggered the ongoing hostilities by launching an offensive north of Goma, on Oct. 26, 2023, in violation of the Luanda process.

The United Nations Security Council, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and senior U.N. officials are calling for the M23 to immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from occupied territories. They have called for the withdrawal of Rwandan forces and a return to the Luanda process of mediation overseen by Angolan President Joao Lourenco.

"Active zones of combat have spread to all quarters of the city, all the neighborhoods of the city," Lemarquis, the deputy U.N. envoy and top U.N. aid official in the DRC, told reporters in New York via video from Kinshasa.

Troops from Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have been firing at each other across their shared border in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, where Rwandan-backed rebels launched an offensive,

Rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo are closing in on a key city in the mineral-rich region aided by neighboring Rwanda’s army, the head of a peacekeeping mission told United Nations Security Council members during an emergency meeting on Sunday.

Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces rages around the key eastern city of Goma.

In 2012, when M23 rebels appeared poised to seize control of a major city in eastern Congo, western countries suspended aid to put pressure on Rwanda to withdraw its support.

The rebel leader whose fighters have captured Goma, the biggest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has vowed to continue their offensive all the way to the capital, Kinshasa. Corneille Nangaa, who heads an alliance of rebel groups that includes the M23, said their ultimate aim was to topple President Félix Tshisekedi's government.

Diplomatic sources say the bloc is facing calls to suspend its wide-ranging minerals agreement with Rwanda amid fears it is inflaming the escalating conflict in eastern DRC. View on euronews