Rwandan-backed rebels have taken over the town of Masisi in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to various reports.
This is the second village captured by the M23 group in as many days in the mineral-rich North Kivu province.
The group has taken control of vast areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since 2021, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
Angola has been attempting to mediate talks between President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. But these collapsed last month.
“I am disappointed to hear that M23 has taken over the Masisi centre,” Alexis Bahunga, a member of the North Kivu provincial legislature, told AFP.
He said this “plunges the region into a serious humanitarian crisis” and urged the government to strengthen the military’s capabilities in the region.
One resident told AFP that M23 held a meeting of villagers and told them they had “come to liberate our country”.
Congolese authorities have yet to comment on the village’s losses.
Masisi, with a population of approximately 40,000, is the capital of the territory of the same name.
It is about 80km north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, which was briefly occupied by M23 in 2012.
On Friday, the M23 captured the nearby town of Katale.
There were such concerns last year. The M23 will once again advance towards Goma.A city with a population of approximately 2 million people.
However, there was a lull in the fighting until early December when fighting resumed.
Last July, Rwanda did not deny this. A UN report said there were about 4,000 soldiers. Fighting alongside M23 in DR Congo.
The report accused the Congolese government of not doing enough to resolve decades-old conflict in the country’s east. Rwanda has previously said authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are cooperating with those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Formed as an offshoot of another rebel group, M23 began operations in 2012 ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has long complained of persecution and discrimination.
But Rwandan critics accuse M23 of using the country to plunder minerals from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, such as gold, cobalt and tantalum, which are used to make batteries for mobile phones and electric vehicles.
Last month, the Democratic Republic of Congo said it had sued Apple over its use of these “blood minerals,” which prompted the tech giant to stop supplying from both countries.
