Sawt Falasteen - Rwanda-backed force vows to march on capital in DR Congo conflict

The group's capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, is a dramatic escalation in a region that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.

Rwanda says its primary interest is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide but it is accused of seeking to profit from the region's reserves of minerals used in global electronics.

"We will continue the march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa," Corneille Nangaa, head of a coalition of groups including the M23, told reporters in Goma.

"We are in Goma and we will not leave... for as long as the questions for which we took up arms have not been answered," he said.

Nangaa said the group would restore electricity and security in the city in the coming days and establish humanitarian corridors to help displaced people return home.

Late on Wednesday, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi pledged to continue fighting.

In an address to the nation he said a "vigorous and coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors is under way".

The United Nations said on Thursday it was "deeply concerned" by "credible reports" that M23 was advancing south from Goma to Bukavu, capital of the neighbouring province of South Kivu.

Local sources told AFP late on Wednesday that Rwandan-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu.

The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has yet to comment on the M23 advances.

After days of intense clashes that left more than 100 dead and nearly 1,000 wounded, according to an AFP tally of hospital figures, some Goma residents on Thursday ventured out to take stock.

"We do not want to live under the thumb of these people," one person, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

- 'Direct engagement' -

Angola, China, the European Union, France, the UN and United States have all urged Rwanda to withdraw its forces.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in Rwanda on Thursday to meet President Paul Kagame after holding talks with Tshisekedi in Kinshasa earlier in the day.

Kagame directly criticised Tshisekedi at an online meeting of the regional East African Community bloc late on Wednesday.

"Why do we leaders of our own countries accept this to go on forever and just accept that we should be manipulated by Tshisekedi or whoever is supporting him?" he asked.

Kagame said "M23 are not Rwandans -- they are Congolese".

Belgium on Thursday asked the EU to consider sanctions against Rwanda, suggesting the bloc could use as leverage its agreement with Kigali over key mineral resources.

Britain threatened to reexamine its aid to Rwanda, in a statement from its foreign ministry.

The 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said it will hold a special summit on the crisis on Friday.

Kagame has told South African President Cyril Ramaphosa his country is "in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator".

South African soldiers, 13 of whom have been killed in the past week in the DRC, are part of a UN peacekeeping force and southern Africa's own peacekeeping mission (SAMIDRC).

Kagame said SAMIDRC "is not a peacekeeping force and it has no place in this situation".

- 'Nothing left to eat' -

M23 fighters and Rwandan troops entered Goma on Sunday.

After four days of fighting, residents could be seen on the streets again on Thursday.

"There is nothing left to eat. Everything has been looted," said Bosco, a local who gave only one name.

"We need help urgently."

The offensive has heightened an already dire humanitarian crisis in the region, causing food and water shortages and forcing half a million people from their homes this month, the UN said.

Africa's health agency warned that the "unnecessary war" in eastern DRC -- a hotspot for infectious diseases -- raised the risk of pandemic.

Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of waging the offensive to profit from the region's mineral wealth -- an allegation backed by UN experts who say Kigali has thousands of troops in the DRC and "de facto control" over the M23.

Rwanda has denied the accusations.

burs-cld-rbu-dl/kjm/gil/rlp

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST