Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday 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 scene is the result of the invasion of Goma on January 27th by M23, an armed group under the control of Rwanda, Congo’s neighbour, which abuts the city. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president, has escalated a crisis whose origins go back decades.

Bodies are lying on the streets. Medical staff in overwhelmed hospitals are treating hundreds of wounded civilians against the backdrop of gunfire and mortar fire.

Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebels are moving south towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, in what appears to be an attempt to expand their area of control in the country's east after capturing the city of Goma.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's President Félix Tshisekedi is not taking part in regionally brokered talks aimed at ending the rebel assault on the key eastern city of Goma, state media has reported.

MSF teams are treating an influx of wounded people arriving at Kyeshero hospital in Goma, DRC, following the armed clashes and insecurity that have hit the city in recent days

Bishop of Willy Ngumbi Ngengele of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Willy says he is dismayed at the scale of violence in his diocese as M23 rebels advanced into the town.

Once again, the eastern Congolese city of Goma has fallen to the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group. The mayhem is certainly real; the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) displacement crisis is second only to Sudan’s,

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.

Strewn with rubble from mortar and artillery fire, the eastern DR Congo city of Goma awoke on Thursday to a new abnormal -- hiding from bandits and counting the dead. Goma's alleys, already strewn with rubble from the mortar and artillery fire,