Noël Barrot has arrived in Congo's capital Kinshasa, an official at the presidency said on Thursday, as Rwanda-backed rebels consolidated control of Goma in the east of the African country."The Minister of Foreign Affairs of France will be received in the next few minutes by the president,

FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade speaks to Dr Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, about the M23 offensive in eastern DR Congo. He says that the ambitions of the Rwanda-backed M23 differ now from their aims back in 2012,

Anti-Rwandan protests broke out in Kinshasa Tuesday morning, as rebels battled Congolese forces in the key eastern city of Goma.

Gaps in securing Uganda’s embassy in Kinshasa are to blame for the attacks that forced the diplomats into hiding on January 28, Daily Monitor has learnt.

Local sources said Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province, after the rebel group’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

The fresh offensive by the M23 rebels and Rwanda forces in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) coincides with the first anniversary of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the European Union (EU) and Rwanda to cooperate on the supply of "critical minerals.

Protesters have attacked missions in the capital of the African country as anger grows about the advance of the M23 rebel group.

Protesters ransacked the embassies of Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and others in Kinshasa and attempted to set them on fire, accusing those countries of supporting or failing to stop the M23 rebels

DR Congo's President Félix Tshisekedi said on Thursday that his troops were mounting a military response as Rwanda-backed M23 fighters advanced in the east of the country.

Former president Thabo Mbeki says that for as long as the Democratic Republic of Congo refuses to look after the Rwandan-speaking Congolese population in the eastern part of the country, then military groups like M23 will continue to exist.

The rebel leader whose fighters have captured Goma, the biggest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has vowed to continue their offensive all the way to the capital, Kinshasa. Corneille Nangaa, who heads an alliance of rebel groups that includes the M23, said their ultimate aim was to topple President Félix Tshisekedi's government.