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 M23 rebel group is advancing toward eastern Congo’s largest city of Goma. The United Nations says this has displaced over 178,000 people in the past two weeks.

Hundreds of displaced people arrived in Goma on Wednesday (January 22), fleeing fighting in Minova after the town fell to M23 rebels. Trevor Koroll reports.

Authorities in eastern Congo say M23 rebels have seized the town of Minova, a key supply route for the provincial capital, Goma.

M23 rebels tightened their stranglehold over key trading routes to the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after taking more towns Monday and Tuesday, Congo’s army said.

A hospital in Goma has taken in more than 200 wounded since early January as fighting intensifies in the eastern North Kivu province between government forces and M23 rebels, the Red Cross and local sources told AFP Monday.

A local official reports the M23 rebel group has seized the eastern town of Minova, a main supply route for the provincial capital Goma after forcing out government troops. The Tutsi-led group has been waging a renewed insurgency in the east since 2022.

A hospital in Goma has taken in more than 200 wounded since early January as fighting intensifies in eastern Congo, the Red Cross and local sources told AFP Monday.

A reporter made a long journey, much of it spent fighting through mud on a motorbike, to reach the epicenter of a viral outbreak in Africa.

The Rwanda-backed M23 fighters have taken control of a key town in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Residents in the provincial capital, Goma, fear their food and supplies will be cut off.

The conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached alarming new levels following the M23 armed group’s seizure of Minova in South Kivu - a critical hub along the supply route to regional capital Goma.