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,

A rebel alliance spearheaded by the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 militia said it had seized the lakeside city of more than 2 million people.

Congolese security forces have tried to slow the advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who say they have captured Goma after entering eastern Congo’s largest city