“Eight people were killed and 28 wounded when protesters in east Congo’s North-Kivu province blocked and then set upon a convoy of United Nations peacekeepers on Tuesday, resulting in clashes, the provincial government said on Wednesday,” Reuters said.

In recent days M23 fighters have captured territory north of DRC’s second-largest city, Goma, and are now closing in
on the town of Sake, the last point of connection on the highway to Kinshasa.

If they take Sake, Goma and its two million residents will be cut off from the capital.

The M23 rebel group has seized chunks of territory since its resurgence in November 2021 despite a peace roadmap hammered out in Angola last July and the deployment of an East African Community force in November.

Rwanda has been accused by the DRC of supporting the M23, a charge corroborated by UN experts and Western countries, although Kigali has denied the accusations.

East African leaders called Saturday for an immediate ceasefire in eastern DRC at an extraordinary summit called to find ways of calming the raging conflict.

Agencies/Aljazeera.