Panic spread in Goma on Thursday, with M23 rebels moving toward the city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as they battle the Congolese military.

Congolese helicopter gunships swooped over the plains to fire volleys of rockets and troops headed in the direction of the front line to halt the rebels advancing on Congo's eastern provincial capital after previously capturing a series of towns.

The M23 rebels have been making advances in recent weeks, closing in on Goma, which is home to around 2 million people and a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts.

One of the world's largest humanitarian crises

M23 is one of around 100 armed groups that have been trying to get a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, along the border with Rwanda, in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

As a result of the ongoing fighting, over 7 million people have been displaced.

Earlier this month, the M23 rebels seized the towns of Minova, Katale and Masisi, west of Goma.

"The people of Goma have suffered greatly, like other Congolese," an M23 spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, posted on X. "M23 is on its way to liberate them, and they must prepare to welcome this liberation."

Meanwhile, schools in Goma sent pupils home on Thursday morning.

Experts from the DRC, the United States and the United Nations have accused Rwanda of backing the M23 armed group. The rebels are mainly composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army over a decade ago.

UN chief 'alarmed'

Later on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he "is alarmed by the resumption of hostilities" and condemned "in the strongest terms, the renewed offensive launched by the 23 March Movement (M23) since the beginning of the year."

"This offensive has a devastating toll on the civilian population and heightened the risk of a broader regional war," demanding the violence "immediately cease," the UN chief said in a statement.

jsi/lo (AP, AFP)