Rebels capture DR Congo’s main city Goma

PanARMENIAN.Net - Fighters from the M23 rebel group have captured Goma, the main city in resource-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to BBC News, the rebels exchange some small-arms fire with the army but they otherwise met little resistance.

UN peacekeepers watched as rebels marched past their vehicles, he adds.

France called for the UN Security Council to strengthen their mandate to intervene in the conflict. It was "absurd" that the UN force could not stop the rebels, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

President Joseph Kabila, who flew to Uganda for talks, called on people to "resist" the rebels. Aid agencies say tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in the last five days as conflict escalated.

This is the first time since the war officially ended in 2003 that rebels have entered Goma, raising fears that a wider conflict could reignite.

Some five million people died in the war, which dragged in neighboring states - including Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola.