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,

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -Rwandan-backed M23 rebels laying siege to eastern Congo's largest city Goma ordered defending government forces late on Sunday to disarm and surrender, saying they were preparing to enter and take control.

The militia seized the pivotal city of Goma, threatening a new humanitarian crisis in a region that has suffered decades of fighting.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.