The Rwandan-backed M23 group on Friday advanced south after seizing the biggest city in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo, in violence that according to the UN has killed at least 700 people in less than a week.

M23's last occupation of Goma was short-lived, and within a year they were a defeated force. This time, things are different.

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 M23 militia, funded and directed by Rwanda, said it had seized the city of Goma, terrifying its people, many of whom sought shelter there after fleeing the rebel advance.

The United Nations expressed deep concern at reports of M23 rebels and Rwandan troops advancing south towards the Congolese city of Bukavu on Thursday, as the militants sought also to assert their control over east Congo's largest city Goma.

M23 rebels on patrol in Goma, eastern Congo, which has reserves of minerals that are needed by the world’s electronics giants © AFP/ Rwanda’s stealth occupation of eastern Congo on x (opens in a new w