REBELS who captured Goma, the largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s east, say they want to take their fight all the way to the  capital Kinshasa.

At a briefing on Thursday where they sought to assert their control over and surrounding territory in the neighbouring province of South Kivu , the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels said they would be open to dialogue with the government, which has also proposed by the east African regional bloc of which Rwanda is a member.

Their motive, however, is to gain political power, Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23, told the briefing. 

He said: “We want to go to Kinshasa, take power and lead the country.”

Mr Nanga did not indicate how the rebels planned to advance on the capital, nearly 1,000 miles away.

But the message from the rebels triggered a video retort from Congolese Defence Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita, a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi, saying that he had ordered plans for any dialogue with the M23 rebels to “be completely burned immediately.”

Mr Muadiamvita vowed: “We will stay here in Congo and fight,” adding: “If we do not stay alive here, let’s stay dead here.”

Rwandan President Paul Kagame said he had spoken with his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco, a mediator in the conflict who also met Mr Tshisekedi a day earlier. 

Both leaders committed to working with other African countries to resolve the hostilities, even though Mr Kagame has often claimed that Rwanda has never provided material support for the rebel group.

The United Nations insists that the M23 are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, far more than in 2012, when they first captured Goma. 

They are one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Democratic Republic of Congo’s east, which holds vast mineral deposits, estimated to be worth the equivalent of £19 trillion, with high-technology applications.

President Tshisekedi met French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Kinshasa on Thursday, with his office noting on the X social media platform that France has provided significant support to Congo in recent UN meetings on the issue. 

Meanwhile, M23 rebels in Goma reportedly escorted some 2,000 government soldiers and police officers, who they said had surrendered, to an undisclosed location.

Bruno Lemarquis, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Congo, said that basic services were largely paralysed in Goma.

“After several days of intense clashes, the city is now [faced] with massive humanitarian needs and severely impacted response capacities.”