Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed “a vigorous and coordinated response” against a rebel alliance that has besieged swaths of the nation’s mineral-rich east and forced hundreds of local troops and foreign mercenaries to surrender.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.

Advances being made by the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo are "heightening the threat of a regional war," according to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Rwanda-backed rebels who have captured eastern Congo’s largest city say they plan to take their rebellion to the capital of Kinshasa and seek to gain political power.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwandan-backed rebels have overrun the city of Goma, sparking concerns at the U.N. of a wider regional war.

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On January 27, the March 23 (M23) rebel movement in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo entered Goma and took control of major parts of the city. The M23’s movement into Goma is a drastic escalation in what has been cycles of violence, rebellion, and international engagement in the region.

The M23 rebels backed by Rwanda have expanded their control over the provincial capital of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo following their invasion on Monday. After the early-morning incursion,

Many of the millions of people trapped in eastern Congo’s escalating rebellion face a terrible choice: Retreat into Congo’s interior and seek the protection of an army in disarray, or cross into nearby Rwanda,

Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who’s been mediating peace talks between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, called for the withdrawal of Rwandan-backed M23 rebels from the city of Goma and for Rwandan troops to leave Congolese territory.

The M23 group is one of about 100 armed factions vying for a foothold in eastern Congo, where a decades-long conflict has raged. The group, made up primarily of ethnic Tutsis who failed to integrate into the Congolese army,