Rwanda-backed rebels who captured eastern Congo's largest city said on Thursday they want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa. Congo's president called for a massive military mobilization to resist the rebellion and his defence minister rejected calls for talks.

Anti-Rwandan protests broke out in Kinshasa Tuesday morning, as rebels battled Congolese forces in the key eastern city of Goma.

FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade speaks to Dr Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, about the M23 offensive in eastern DR Congo. He says that the ambitions of the Rwanda-backed M23 differ now from their aims back in 2012,

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has arrived in Congo's capital Kinshasa, an official at the presidency said on Thursday, as Rwanda-backed rebels consolidated control of Goma in the east of the African country.

France's foreign minister was due in Rwanda on Thursday after talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of efforts to prevent a regional escalation following the capture of the eastern Congolese city of Goma by M23 rebels and Rwandan troops.

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.

Gaps in securing Uganda’s embassy in Kinshasa are to blame for the attacks that forced the diplomats into hiding on January 28, Daily Monitor has learnt.

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.

France has slammed a series of attacks on diplomatic missions in Kinshasa, fuelled by tensions over the M23 rebel conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Many blame the United States, France and other allies for allowing neighboring Rwanda to fuel a conflict in the country’s east.

As fighting intensifies between the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group and Congolese forces, UN chief of Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix underscored the critical state of the battle for eastern DRC's regional capital Goma,