Residents in eastern Congo's largest city, Goma, woke up on Monday morning uncertain about who is in control of the city, which Rwanda-backed rebels claimed to have captured.

The M23 militia, funded and directed by Rwanda, said it had seized the city of Goma, terrifying its people, many of whom sought shelter there after fleeing the rebel advance.

M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo were reported to have taken the key eastern city of Goma in fierce fighting with government forces that sent streams of refugees fleeing area communities.

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -Rwandan-backed rebels marched into the centre of east Congo's largest city on Monday, witnesses said, in the latest escalation of decades of conflict in a region already suffering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government says the Rwanda-backed rebels’ advance constitutes a “declaration of war."