France's foreign minister was due in Rwanda on Thursday after talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of efforts to prevent a regional escalation following the capture of the eastern Congolese city of Goma by M23 rebels and Rwandan troops.

M23 militia fighters, alongside Rwandan troops, are pushing into the eastern DR Congo city of Goma, capital of the mineral-rich North Kivu province.

While M23 rebels closed in on Goma, a major city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the US, UK and France on Friday called on their nationals to leave the area. Clashes between the Congolese army and rebels have triggered a humanitarian crisis as diplomatic efforts to mediate talks between Congolese and Rwandan leaders have failed.

Gunfire rang out early on Monday across parts of Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, hours after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels said they had taken control of the city despite the United Nations Security Council's calling for an end to the offensive.

Rwanda is illegally occupying the Democratic Republic of Congo and attempting to orchestrate regime change, the country's foreign minister has told the BBC. Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said the world had allowed Rwandan President Paul Kagame decades of impunity and failure to hold him accountable for violating international law.

Fighting across the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and "is still very much ongoing ... it's not over yet," senior U.N. official in Congo, Bruno Lemarquis, said on Monday after Rwandan-backed M23 rebels claimed to have control of Goma.

M23 rebels on patrol in Goma, eastern Congo, which has reserves of minerals that are needed by the world’s electronics giants © AFP/ Rwanda’s stealth occupation of eastern Congo on x (opens in a new w