LIVE: M23 Captures South Kivu’s Capital Bukavu as DR Congo Soldiers Flee | Firstpost Africa Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured the second-biggest city in DR Congo’s mineral-rich East. They have captured Bukavu,

M23 Rebels Capture South Kivu’s Bukavu as Uganda Threatens Attack | Firstpost Africa | N18G Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured the second-biggest city in DR Congo’s mineral-rich East. They have captured Bukavu,

Marcus Bachmann, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) head of programmes for South Kivu province, explains the situation in this part of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as the conflict evolves.What is the current situation in South Kivu?

The Congolese army called on deserters to rejoin their units on Thursday, as rogue soldiers fired guns and looted parts of the eastern town of Lubero after fleeing nearby clashes with advancing Rwandan-backed rebels.

Rwanda-backed rebels have captured two major cities in Congo’s mineral-rich east after a major escalation in their yearslong fighting against Congolese forces.

Until now, the international response to the rapidly escalating crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has committed a litany of grave abuses, has been all talk and no action.

The fall of Goma and the M23's advance since is the latest in a series of Tutsi-led rebellions that emerged in Congo's east after the official end of a string of conflicts between 1996 and 2003 that sucked in Congo's neighbours and killed millions of people.

The M23's capture of swathes of eastern Congo and valuable mineral deposits has fanned fears of a wider war and provoked some members of the fractious opposition to openly predict his presidency will not last.