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. France has condemned Rwanda's actions and said the offensive has to stop.
Video shared online showed Rwanda-backed M23 rebels patrolling Goma's main streets after they made recent lightning advances against the Congolese army on Sunday.
Tens of thousands of people are fleeing their homes.
Residents told RFI they'd heard shooting in the north of Goma and in the city centre.
A mass jailbreak was underway on Monday morning at a prison in Goma. The prison was "totally torched" following the jailbreak, that resulted in deaths, a security source told France's AFP agency.
In a statement, the M23 said the liberation of the city has been successfully carried out, and the situation was under control.
The rebels had ordered government soldiers to surrender by 0300 on Monday (0100 GMT) and 100 Congolese soldiers had handed their weapons in to Uruguayan troops in the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO), Uruguay's military said.
MONUSCO staff and their families were evacuating across the border to Rwanda on Monday morning, where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up.
Macron urges Rwanda to end support for DRC M23 rebels, withdraw troops
Solidarity with DRC
France has expressed its solidarity regarding the Democratic Republic of Congo and condemns actions by Rwanda in the country, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday.
Barrot was speaking as he arrived at the Council of European Foreign Ministers in Brussels.
Kenya's President William Ruto, chairman of the East African Community bloc, will hold an emergency meeting for heads of state on the situation, said Korir Sing'Oei, principal secretary at Kenya's foreign ministry.
The UN Security Council held crisis talks on Sunday over the conflict, which has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
UN experts say that Rwanda has deployed 3,000 - 4,000 troops and provided significant firepower, including missiles and snipers, to support the M23 in fighting in Congo.
Rebels tighten grip on Congo mineral wealth as UN warns of long-term control
Well-trained and professionally armed, M23 – the latest in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements – says it exists to protect Congo's ethnic Tutsi population.
The United States, France and Britain on Sunday condemned what they said was Rwanda's backing of the rebel advance. Kigali dismissed statements that "did not provide any solutions" and blamed Kinshasa for triggering the recent escalation.
"The fighting close to the Rwandan border continues to present a serious threat to Rwanda's security and territorial integrity, and necessitates Rwanda's sustained defensive posture," Rwanda's foreign ministry said.
(with newswires)
