There has been fierce fighting as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels advance towards the second-largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, marking a further escalation in the region’s conflict.
M23 fighters have been moving south, towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, after capturing the largest city in the region, Goma.
The Congolese army has set up a defensive line on the road between the two cities, according to the AFP news agency.
Earlier this week, the M23 group vowed to continue their offensive until they reached the capital, Kinshasa, which is 2,600km (1,600 miles) away.
Hundreds of civilian volunteers have been enlisted to defend Bukavu.
One young man told the AFP: “I am ready to die for my country.”
South Kivu governor Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki told Reuters news agency the Congolese army and their allies were holding back the rebels. But the BBC has not been able to verify this.
Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the country’s foreign minister, told the BBC that Rwanda was illegally occupying the Democratic Republic of Congo and attempting to orchestrate regime change.
Ms Wagner said the world had allowed Rwandan President Paul Kagame decades of impunity and failure to hold him accountable for violating international law.
Rwanda’s government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo denied the accusation and said its troops were only deployed to prevent the conflict spilling over to its territory.
“We’re not interested in war, we’re not interested in annexation, we’re not interested in regime change,” Ms Makolo told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
The Southern African Development Community (Sadc), a regional bloc made up of 16 members, is holding a special meeting on Friday in Zimbabwe to discuss the situation in DR Congo.
Sadc has sent peacekeeping troops, primarily from South Africa, to DR Congo to combat armed groups like the M23 and restore peace in the mineral-rich region after decades of unrest.
Sixteen soldiers from southern African countries have been killed in clashes with the M23 around Goma in the past week.
In a public spat on X with his South African counterpart, Rwanda’s President Kagame said the Sadc troops were “not a peacekeeping force, and it has no place in this situation”.
The fighting has worsened the humanitarian crisis in eastern DR Congo as the M23 has captured large areas of North Kivu province, around Goma.
Shelley Thakral, from the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said the city’s residents were running out of food, clean water and medical supplies.
“The supply chain has really been strangled at the moment if you think about land access, air access, when everything is closed down,” she told the AFP news agency.
Since the start of 2025, more than 400,000 people have been forced from their homes, according to the UN’s refugee agency.
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Jeremy Laurence said there had been reports of sexual violence by Congolese troops.
There are reports that at least 50 women had been raped, some by several men, in South Kivu, he said.
The M23 has also killed at least 12 people in summary executions since the crisis started, according to the UN.
The Rwandan spokesperson asserted that the country’s troops were securing their borders in response to “repeated violations”, including 15 deaths, from cross-border shelling.
“The DRC needs to do a better job of getting their territory in order. That is their responsibility,” she said.
Ms Makolo added that Rwanda was placing “heavily defensive mechanisms, and offensive mechanisms” along the border to safeguard its investment.
She also said that Rwanda was concerned about the presence in DR Congo of militias responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and which wanted to return to Rwanda to “finish the job”. She accused the Congolese authorities of working with these groups.
The Congolese foreign minister also accused Rwanda of occupying DR Congo in order to exploit its vast mineral resources, such as gold and coltan, which is used to make batteries for mobile phones and electric vehicles.
“I think that Rwanda ought to be under an embargo for all of its mineral exportations, they should not be benefiting from what has been mined illegally and under forced labour in the eastern DRC,” she said.
This was denied by Ms Makolo.
Ms Wagner called for a halt to foreign aid being sent to Rwanda and sanctions to be placed on the leaders “enabling this warfare”.
Foreign donors, like the UK and Germany, have already threatened to suspend aid.
She also called for Rwanda’s troops to be suspended from UN peacekeeping missions around the world.
“We have to witness a country that presents itself as a peace-bringer in other countries, be(ing) a warmonger in the Great Lakes region,” she said.
UN experts said last year that Rwanda had between 3,000 and 4,000 troops operating alongside the M23 in eastern DR Congo.
Human Rights Watch has warned of escalating risks to civilians as DR Congo’s army battle the M23 rebels. The humanitarian group has accused both sides of committing grave abuses against civilians.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the current conflict risks escalating into a broader regional war.
Uganda’s army has said it will strengthen its defences along the border with DR Congo in response to the increased fighting.
DR Congo is a vast country, about two-thirds the size of Western Europe, which borders nine different countries.
Previous conflicts in the country, in the 1990s, have drawn in several neighbours and were dubbed “Africa’s World Wars”.
