The capture of the city has cut off the supply of goods to North Kivu, an emerging market

The M23 rebel group has declared the key city of Goma under its control, signalling a big blow to the Congolese army.

Goma is a lucrative hub because of its niche to valuable deposits of gold, coltan and tin which are minerals essential in the global supply chain for electronics and industrial manufacturing.

Speaking to BBC Newshour while being locked down in a UN bunker in the city, the deputy head of the UN force, Vivian van de Perre, said the M23 rebels had "established" themselves in Goma, but were still facing "pockets of resistance".

Amid tragic escalation of violence in Congo, Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngengele of Goma has assured the people of the church's closeness and compassion, as rebels entered the eastern city of Goma, forcing thousands to flee and triggering wave of looting and deaths.

GOMA : Clashes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s besieged city of Goma have killed at least 17 people and wounded nearly 370, hospital sources said yesterday, as the Congolese military fought to hold off M23 forces backed by the Rwandan army.

M23 fighters were welcomed by celebrating locals Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo UN workers and their families line up to board a bus in the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi ...

The latest fighting has intensified a humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 400,000 people since the start of the year, and raised fears of sparking a regional war, the U.N. has warned.

Rwanda-backed rebels who have captured eastern Congo’s largest city say they plan to take their rebellion to the capital and seek to gain political power.

The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group vowed Thursday to "continue the march of liberation" to the DR Congo capital Kinshasa, as its fighters made further advances in the mineral-rich east of

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, consolidated control on Wednesday over several districts of Goma, the city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo