Over 2,000 bodies require burial in Goma after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels took over the Democratic Republic of Congo city last week, inflaming a decade-old conflict and humanitarian crisis, Congo's communications minister Patrick Muyaya said late on Monday.

STORY: The morgues in Goma are overflowing, after Rwanda-backed rebels seized the biggest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week.Relative calm has now returned to the provincial capital after the rebel Congo River Alliance,

The Rwanda-backed rebels who seized eastern Congo’s key city of Goma have announced a unilateral ceasefire in the region for humanitarian reasons, following calls for a safe corridor for aid and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The M23 rebel group have captured the city of Goma in the eastern DRC in a major escalation of a drawn-out conflict.

The World Health Organization said that at least 900 bodies were recovered from the streets of Goma as of last Friday following five days of fighting in which the M23 rebels took control of the city.

M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo said they would begin a unilateral ceasefire on Tuesday as the Group of Seven nations demanded that the Rwanda-backed militia halt an offensive that has shaken the eastern part of the country.

The group called the Congo River Alliance also includes the Rwanda- backed M23 rebels, who were reported to be gaining territory in other eastern parts of the country while advancing on South Kivu's provincial capital,