M23 rebels appear to seize most of Goma in eastern DR Congo
The M23 armed group took control of Goma's airport on Tuesday, a security source said, following days of intense clashes that killed more than 100 people and wounded nearly 1,000...
It has also triggered a spiralling humanitarian crisis, with the UN warning of hundreds of thousands forced from their homes, serious food shortages, looted aid, overwhelmed hospitals and the potential spread of disease...
On the other side of the country, roughly the size of western Europe, protesters in the capital Kinshasa attacked the embassies of various nations – angered that they had not stepped in to halt the chaos in the east.
The missions of France, Belgium, the United States, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa were among those targeted, with demonstrators torching tyres outside several of them. Protesters also attacked the Rwandan embassy in Kinshasa...
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was striving to help respond to a massive influx of wounded to Goma's "overwhelmed" hospitals, warning that some patients were "lying on the floor due to lack of space"...
The violence in the mineral-rich North Kivu province around Goma has forced half a million people from their homes since the start of the year, according to the UN refugee agency...
The DRC has accused Rwanda of wanting to profit from the region's abundant minerals – which include gold, coltan, copper and cobalt – and has called for stronger UN action.
Rwanda has denied the claims, saying its aim is to tackle an armed group called the FDLR, created by former Hutu leaders of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda who massacred Tutsis.
In a call with Kagame Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio "urged an immediate ceasefire in the region, and for all parties to respect sovereign territorial integrity".
Also on Tuesday, China's ambassador to the UN, Fu Cong, urged Rwanda to heed international calls to "stop military support" for the M23.
At least 17 peacekeepers from a southern African regional force and the UN's DRC mission have been killed in the fighting...