Critical minerals factor into the fight.

Protesters have attacked missions in the capital of the African country as anger grows about the advance of the M23 rebel group.

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

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned the serious violations of human rights, the attacks on displaced persons, and the increase in ethnic violence. Goma's hospitals are overwhelmed,

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.

By Yassin Kombi and David Lewis GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -As an East African bloc urged an immediate ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwandan-backed M23 rebels who seized the city of Goma extended their advance on Wednesday,

Nearly 300 foreign mercenaries hired by the Democratic Republic of Congo government to counter a swift offensive by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the east have surrendered and were on their way home on Wednesday.

Residents of the besieged city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, say they are gripped by fear as gunshots continue to ring out around their homes, days after rebel forces claimed they had taken over.

Rioters stormed embassies and started fires in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, drawing tear gas from police, in an eruption of protests over a Rwandan-backed rebel offensive in the east.

Fighting with M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo left six United Nations peacekeepers dead, UN officials said Saturday.

South Africa often uses its diplomatic heft to position itself as defender of the "global south" on the world stage, but the deaths of 13 of its soldiers in eastern Congo fighting have exposed an inability to project hard power in its own backyard.