Ankara has offered to mediate between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo over a new offensive launched by an armed group in the east of the DRC, Turkey's president said Thursday.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have taken over the key eastern trading town of Minova, according to various sources. The fall of the city puts the rebels within 40km (25 miles) of provincial capital, Goma, which lies close to the border with Rwanda.

M23 rebels are steadily encircling Goma, the DRC's strategic eastern city, as the national army struggles to defend its territory. With alleged support from Rwanda and facing a weakened Congolese military,

Many Congolese see the rebel advance as an invasion of their country by a foreign power in an attempt to seize land and Congo’s valuable rare minerals.

The Great Lakes region continues to face the threat of terrorism, particularly from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a DR Congo-based Ugandan terror group affiliated to the Islamic State, foreign minister Amb Olivier Nduhungirehe said during a high-level UN Security Council debate in New York,

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, had a meeting with Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 23 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, had a meeting with Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe during which they discussed counterterrorism efforts in Africa and the situation in the Great Lakes region as well as bilateral relations.

The M23 armed group has seized further territory in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and on Thursday was continuing to tighten its grip on provincial capital Goma, which is almost surrounded by fighting.

In the previous article in this series, we explored how the trusteeship authority outmaneuvered the United Nations (UN). Today and historically, the UN has often betrayed Rwanda and the developing world.

The M23 rebel group in Democratic Republic of Congo has seized the eastern town of Minova, a main supply route for the provincial capital Goma, a local governor and a rebel leader said on Tuesday as the army reported fighting on all fronts.

The international community cannot hope to resolve the threat of terrorism if it fails to identify and address its true perpetrators, Rwanda’s foreign minister Amb Olivier Nduhungirehe stressed during a high-level UN Security Council debate in New York,

NZULO, Congo -- The M23 rebel group's advance toward eastern Congo's largest city has displaced over 178,000 people in the past two weeks, the United Nations said, as the fighters closed in on Goma on the border with Rwanda.