Rwanda-backed M23 rebels entered the strategic town of Walikale in eastern Congo late Wednesday, according to residents and civil society leaders, a day after the Congolese and Rwandan presidents call

M23 rebels in Congo, backed by Rwanda, capture Walikale, dismissing calls for a ceasefire. This escalates a long-standing regional conflict, with implications for mineral-rich eastern Congo. Despite international pressure for peaceful talks with Kinshasa,

The leader of a rebel alliance that has seized swathes of east Congo told Reuters on Thursday that insurgents were not bound by a ceasefire call from Congo and Rwanda's presidents and cast any minerals-for-security deal with the U.