GOMA, Congo — (AP) — Rwanda-backed rebels claimed they captured eastern Congo's largest city, Goma, early Monday, as the United Nations described a "mass panic" among its 2 million people and Congo's government said the rebel advance was a "declaration ...

Hundreds of people attempted to flee the Democratic Republic of Congo to Rwanda on Sunday, as heavy gunfire resonated across the key eastern Congolese city of Goma, just a few miles from the frontline.

Spread This NewsBy newZWire  THE United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Sunday over deadly clashes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after Kinshasa withdrew its diplomats from Kigali as Rwanda-backed rebels advanced on the key city of Goma.

Rwandan diplomats say their army is not deployed in the DRC, but if it was it would be to protect the Congolese Tutsi community and their own borders against the rebel Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda. The FDLR includes combatants who participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Rwanda said Sunday that clashes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where Kigali-backed fighters are locked in battle with the Congolese army, required it to maintain a "sustained defensive posture".

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed they captured eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, early Monday, as the United Nations described a “mass panic” among its 2 million people and Congo’s government said the rebel advance was a “declaration of war.

M23 insurgency in eastern Congo has intensified in January with the rebels seizing control of more territory than ever before, prompting the United Nations to warn of the risk of a broader regional war.

Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting involving Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and Congolese forces intensifies near Goma. Accusations fly between nations, with the UN and Congolese government citing Rwanda's support of rebels.

The council urged Rwanda and the DRC to return to talks to achieve peace and address issues related to the presence of Rwanda Defence Forces in the eastern Congo and Congolese support for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

Eastern Congo remains a tinderbox of rebel zones and militia fiefdoms in the wake of two successive regional wars stemming from Rwanda

The UN chief Antonio Guterres said Rwanda was backing M23 rebels as they advance towards the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. DW has more.