The M23 movement, supported by some 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, according to U.N. experts, now controls large tracts of troubled eastern Congo. Its rapid advance has sent tens of thousands fleeing.

More than 7,000 people have died this year as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured unprecedented amounts of territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo

Violence raging in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed "more than 7,000 compatriots", many of them civilians, since last month, the Congolese premier said Monday.The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has seized large swathes of the mineral-rich eastern DRC -- including the main cities of Goma and Bukavu -- in the face of limited resistance from Congolese forces.