The M23 rebels push the south of Goma while the chief of the DRC calls for military recruits | Democratic Republic of Congo

The M23 rebellious group supported by Rwanda pushed south of Goma, the border city of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that it captured this week, and declared its intention to stay in the city, while fears grow up ‘A great regional war.

“We are here in Goma to stay,” said Corneille Nangaa, head of the Congo River Alliance, a militias coalition that includes M23, during a press conference in Goma. “We are going to continue walking to Kinshasa,” he added, referring to the capital of Congo 1,000 miles away.

Earlier, Rwanda’s ambassador for the Great Lakes region, Vincent Karega, said that the M23’s advance would continue and that the fighters could exceed the country.

International reservoir calls seem to have had little impact on the ground in the DRC. Local sources have told Agency France-Press that M23 fighters had seized two districts in the South Kivu province while they were heading for the provincial capital, Bukavu, the second largest city in the DRC de l ‘ East.

On Wednesday, in a speech at the end of the evening, the Congolese president, Félix Tshisekedi, called on young people to enlist in the army “massively” and judged “a vigorous and coordinated response” in rebellious advance.

On Monday, rebel fighters and Rwandan soldiers were brought to Goma, the capital of the province of northern Kivu and a regional center for displaced people, in the largest climbing since 2012 of a decade conflict.

The Congo army has its main defense line in the city of Kavumu. If the rebels advance beyond Kavumu, Bukavu could be threatened. Some of the Congolese troops driven by M23 in Goma fled to Bukavu.

In his first speech since the fall of Goma, Tshisekedi said that “vigorous and coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors” was underway. “Enlighten massively in the army because you are the spearhead of our country,” he said.

The president criticized what he described as the “silence and inaction” of the international community, calling him an affront in the face of an “unprecedented worsening of the security situation” which, according to him, could lead directly to an escalation in the wider region of the Great Lakes region.

The M23 rebels in eastern DRC are supported by 4,000 soldiers from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, much more than in 2012 when the group briefly captured Goma.

A sustained and successful push in the south of Kivu would put the territory for the first time under rebellious control since the end of two great wars which took place from 1996 to 2003, in which millions of civilians died, mainly malnutrition and disease. The troops of neighboring Burundi, which had hostile relations with Rwanda, supports Congolese troops in the south of Kivu, which means that the risk of a broader conflict would increase.

Rwanda is faced with an assembly of international pressure on its role in fighting. The United States said it was “deeply disturbed” by climbing the conflict, Germany canceling a meeting scheduled with Rwandan officials next month, and the United Kingdom told Kigali that it put 1 billion dollars (800 million pounds sterling) in the aid of “under the threat”.

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, landed in Rwanda on Thursday to discuss the crisis. His ministry said he would demand the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from the DRC. Barrot was in Kinshasa earlier during the day to meet Tshisekedi.

Tshisekedi has snubbed a virtual emergency summit called by the community block of Eastern Africa to discuss the conflict in his country. At the meeting, which Paul Kagame, the Rwandan President attended, the leaders called for an immediate cease-fire and a peaceful resolution by talks between the DRC and the armed groups.

The DRC is rich in gold and other minerals such as cobalt, coltan, tantalum and tin used in batteries and electronics. Kinshasa accused Rwanda of leading the offensive to take advantage of the mineral wealth of the region, a complaint supported by UN experts who say that Kigali has thousands of soldiers with his neighbor and “de facto control” on M23.

Rwanda has denied the accusations and will not admit military participation in its neighbor. Kagame said that Rwanda’s support for M23 aims to destroy the FDLR, an armed group based on the DRC created by former Hutu leaders who massacred Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide.

Reuters and Agency France-Press contributed to this report