Rebels say they have taken control of the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, although this has been denied by the government.
Residents shared videos of M23 rebels patrolling Goma’s main streets following a lightning advance against the Congolese army on Sunday that saw tens of thousands of people fleeing neighbouring towns.
After hours of gunfire and explosions, the streets of Goma – home to more than a million people – are now quiet, according to local media.
It comes hours after DR Congo’s foreign minister accused neighbouring Rwanda of declaring war by sending its troops over the border to support the M23.
Rwanda does not deny backing the M23 but accuses the Congolese authorities of supporting militias trying to the topple the government in Kigali.
Kenya has called for a ceasefire, and announced that the presidents of both the DR Congo and Rwanda will attend an emergency regional summit in the next two days.
Kenyan President William Ruto, the current chair of the East African Community, said it was incumbent on regional leaders to help facilitate a peaceful solution to the conflict.
The M23 group has taken control of vast parts of mineral-rich eastern DR Congo since 2021. In the past few weeks the group has been advancing swiftly on Goma amid intense fighting.
Since the start of 2025 more than 400,000 people have been forced from their homes in the provinces of North and South Kivu, near the border with Rwanda, according to the UN’s refugee agency.
One woman, Alice Feza, said she was at a loss about what to do next, as she had fled from Kiwanja, Rutshuru, Kibumba and now, Goma.
“People are fleeing everywhere, and we don’t know where to go any more, because we started fleeing a long time ago,” Ms Feza said, adding: “The war catches us here among the host families, now we have nowhere to go.”
Key roads surrounding Goma are blocked and the city’s airport can no longer be used for evacuation and humanitarian efforts, the UN has said.
In a statement early on Monday morning, the government said its forces were still controlling strategic parts of the city including the airport.
“Contrary to the manipulative messages circulating on social networks the FARDC [the DR Congo army] hold the Goma airport… and all the strategic points of the capital of the North Kivu Province,” it said.
It added that the army was “more than determined to defend the homeland at the cost of the supreme sacrifice”.
A resident told the Reuters news agency that there was “confusion in the city; here near the airport, we see soldiers. I have not seen the M23 yet”, adding that there were also some cases of looting of shops.
Local journalist Akilimali Selah Chomachoma told the BBC Newsday programme that gunfire was continuing and the situation was “complicated”.
Reverend Damiri, chaplain of the HEAL Africa hospital in Goma, told the BBC that it was calm where he was, although he could hear gunshots from another side of the city.
“Goma is a large city… We still have quite a number of soldiers that have gathered together, governmental soldiers, but a big part of the city is controlled by the rebels,” he said.
There have been reports of heavy artillery hitting the centre of Goma, and of a mass escape from a prison in the city, with unverified videos being shared online appearing to show prisoners fleeing.
A security source told the AFP news agency that the prison holding 3,000 inmates was “totally torched” and that the jailbreak had resulted in deaths.
Power and water has reportedly been cut to many areas of the city.
UN Secretary General António Guterres has called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the DR Congo’s territory and on the M23 to stop its advance.
Guterres, in a statement through his spokesman, called on Rwanda to “cease support to the M23 and withdraw from DRC territory”. He also called on the M23 to “immediately cease all hostile actions and withdraw from occupied areas”.
This comes after 13 soldiers serving with peacekeeping forces were killed in clashes with the rebels.
The UK has called for an end to attacks on peacekeepers, while France’s UN representative, Nicolas de Rivière, reiterated Guterres’ call for Rwanda to withdraw its troops from the DR Congo.
Both DR Congo and the UN say the M23 group is backed by Rwanda.
Rwanda has not denied this, but the country’s leaders blame the DR Congo for the current conflict.
Speaking at the Security Council meeting, Rwanda’s UN representative Ernest Rwamucyo said he regretted that the international community had chosen to condemn the M23 group rather than the Congolese army, which, he said, had violated a ceasefire.
On Saturday, the UN said it would be pulling all of its non-essential staff out of Goma.
The M23 formed as an offshoot of another rebel group in 2012, ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in the east of DR Congo, which had long complained of persecution and discrimination.
Rwanda has previously said the Congolese authorities were working with some of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, who then fled over the border to DR Congo.
However, Rwanda’s critics accuse it of using the M23 to loot minerals such as gold, cobalt and tantalum in eastern DR Congo.
