The U.N. says Rwanda-backed rebels are expanding their presence in eastern Congo after capturing the region's major city.

"In Bukavu, foreigners are fleeing," missionaries from the capital of the Congolese province of South Kivu tell Fides. "The various embassies in Kinshasa have ordered their compatriots to leave the city because they fear that the M23 rebels could conquer it after taking control of Goma and the province of North Kivu,

Congolese troops with support from Burundi's army appeared on Friday to be holding back a push south by Rwandan-backed rebels seeking to expand their grip on eastern Congo in a weeks-old advance that has raised fears of a broader regional conflict.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has not known peace, stability and sanity, sustainable economic and socio-political development for long periods of time. There is always a fertile and breeding ground for conflict between its ethnic groups.

Rwanda-backed rebels who have captured eastern Congo’s largest city say they plan to take their rebellion to the capital and seek to gain political power

The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group vowed Thursday to "continue the march of liberation" to the DR Congo capital Kinshasa, as its fighters made further advances in the mineral-rich east of the country.

A rebel alliance claimed the capture of the biggest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich eastern region this week, pushing back against resistance from government troops backed by regional and UN intervention forces.

The humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is "not just a regional concern but a global responsibility," a UN spokesperson said Tuesday.

The Rwandan-backed armed group M23 moved south as it closed in on a key military airport in DR Congo on Friday, a day after pledging to take the capital Kinshasa and as international criticism mounted.

Hundreds of protestors in the Himbi neighbourhood of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, on Friday, January 31, called for the removal of Congolese president Felix Tshisekedi as well as the exit of troops from Burundi and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) from their country.

In recent weeks, the armed conflict in the DRC between the M23/AFC and the Congolese army, backed by their allies, has flared up again in the province of North Kivu and spread to the neighbouring province of South Kivu.