Fighting has escalated sharply in recent weeks in eastern Congo, where rebels have seized key towns and are closing in on the city of Goma, the government’s last stronghold in the North Kivu province,

The DR Congo army and M23 fighters clashed outside Goma on Friday as the UK, United States and France urged citizens to leave the main city in the country's volatile east, warning the situation could deteriorate rapidly.

Civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are at increasing risk as the abusive M23 armed group, supported by the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), approaches Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

File photo taken on April 11 2024 shows Peter Cirimwami the military governor of North Kivu in an interview in Goma

Authorities say the governor of eastern Congo’s North Kivu province has died from injuries sustained in fighting on the front line as M23 rebels close in on Goma.

As fighting between M23 rebels and the Congolese armed forces intensifies, Western governments have urged their citizens to leave the main city of Goma.

Fighting between M23 rebels and Democratic Republic of Congo’s army intensified on Friday with the militia threatening to take the trading hub of Goma and the United Nations warning of a regional war.

It is vital, and long overdue, for peace to take root in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the benefit of its people and the region,' says UNHCR spokesperson - Anadolu Ajansı

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Intensified fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has triggered significant new displacement of civilians and injured nine peacekeepers, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

The South African National Defence Union (Sandu) has called on the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to inform the public of the true situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following the M23 rebel advances on Sake and Goma,

The Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu governor, Major General Peter Cirimwami Nkuba, has died from injuries inflicted during a battle with M23 rebels. The violence in the region, particularly around Goma,