THOUSANDS fled eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, today after Rwanda-backed rebels claimed to have captured the regional hub from Congolese forces.

Fighting in and around the city has escalated in recent days despite calls by the United Nations security council for the insurgents to withdraw.

Gunshots rang out across Goma overnight before dozens of rebels in military uniform marched into the capital of North Kivu province, which sits on the border with Rwanda. 

The Congolese government has not confirmed the fall of Goma, 930 miles east of capital Kinshasa, after severing ties with Rwanda on Saturday.

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are one of about 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich region in the decades-long conflict, one of Africa's largest. 

The rebels temporarily took over Goma in 2012, before they were forced to pull out under international pressure, and resurfaced in late 2021, with increasing support from Rwanda, according to Congo’s government and UN experts. Rwanda continues to deny such support.

Analysts have warned the latest escalation of hostilities could further destabilise the region, which is already home to one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with more than six million people displaced. 

More than a third of North Kivu’s population are among the displaced, according to a UN report.

On Sunday the UN security council called on the M23 to immediately reverse its advances.

“The members of the security council condemned the ongoing flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC and that the M23 put an end to the establishment of parallel administrations in the DRC territory,” the statement added, referring to Congo’s formal name, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The rebels said today they had captured the city just as a deadline they gave to Congolese security forces to surrender was about to expire. 

Congolese government officials have said the country is “in a war situation” and accused Rwanda of committing “a frontal aggression (and) a declaration of war.”

Congo cut ties with Rwanda over the weekend as recent attempts at diplomatic talks between the two countries failed.

On Sunday, hundreds of residents walked in the heat and through the night along roads with heavy traffic as they tried to flee Goma into Rwanda, carrying their babies, clothes and other belongings on their backs and heads. 

The UN special representative for Congo Bintou Keita told an emergency meeting of the security council that “we are trapped,” with the airport shut down and roads blocked.