Corneille Nangaa, a former head of DR Congo’s electoral commission, now leads the Congo River Alliance, which includes the M23 rebel group. He has addressed large rallies in the cities under the group’s control.

The bounty is also on offer for M23 leaders Sultani Makenga and Bertrand Bisimwa.

Last year the three men were prosecuted in absentia by a military court and given death sentences for treason.

A reward of $4m (£3) was also offered for the arrest of their accomplices.

But the chances of them being arrested appear slim.

In recent weeks the army has been no match for the Rwandan-backed rebels who have captured large parts of the mineral-rich eastern DR Congo, including the region’s two largest cities – Goma and Bukavu.

So President Félix Tshisekedi has instead focused on trying to build international pressure for Rwanda to face sanctions for backing the rebels.

Last year, a report by UN experts said up to 4,000 Rwanda troops were working with the M23 in DR Congo.

Thousands of people have been killed during the fighting and hundreds of thousands left without shelter after fleeing their homes.

The Congolese government is also seeking US support in exchange for access to its minerals.

DR Congo accuses Rwanda of trying to take control of its minerals, which include gold and coltan, used in consumers electronics such as mobile phones and computers.

In response to the reports that DR Congo was offering access to the minerals in exchange for military help fighting the M23 rebels, presidential spokeswoman Tina Salama said on X last month that President Tshisekedi was inviting the US “whose companies source strategic raw materials from Rwanda, materials that are looted from the DRC and smuggled to Rwanda” to instead buy them from the Congolese – the “rightful owners”.

Rwanda denies looting minerals from DR Congo.

It no longer denies backing the M23 but says it is trying to prevent the conflict in DR Congo from spilling over into its own territory.

Rwanda also accuses the Congolese government of working with a different armed group in DR Congo, which is linked to those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis were massacred.

Both the M23 and Rwanda’s government are led by Tutsis.

The Congolese government denies working with the FDLR group accused by Rwanda of being a “genocidal militia”.

Some people lined the streets to clap and cheer the fighters as they marched and drove into the city centre without resistance. It is the second city after Goma to fall to the rebels in the mineral-rich region in the past few weeks.

The Congolese government has acknowledged its fall and urged residents to stay at home “to avoid being targeted by the occupying forces”.

The UN and European countries have warned that the latest offensive, which has seen hundreds of thousands of people forced from their homes, could spark a wider regional war.

A resident in Bukavu, who asked to remain anonymous because of concerns for her safety, told the BBC on Sunday that most people were still afraid to leave their homes.

“Since yesterday the children and the youth took the weapons. They are shooting everywhere in all directions, they are looting,” she said.

“This morning the M23 entered and they were acclaimed by the people, very happy to see them. We don’t know if it’s because they are afraid or because they found that there were no authorities in the city.

“The place where I live the crackling [gunfire] can still be heard.”

On Friday, the M23 captured Bukavu’s main airport, which is about 30km (18 miles) north of the city – and then began advancing slowly towards the city, which is the capital of South-Kivu province.

The provincial governor, Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki, confirmed to the Reuters news agency the fighters were in Bukavu city centre by Sunday morning, adding that Congolese troops had withdrawn to avoid urban fighting.

This left a security vacuum in the city on Saturday with chaotic scenes playing out, including a reported prison break from the central prison.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said a warehouse with nearly 7,000 tonnes of food was looted.

The city of around two million people on the southern tip of Lake Kivu borders Rwanda and is an important transit point for the local mineral trade.

Its fall represents an unprecedented expansion of territory for the M23 since their latest insurgency started in late 2021 – and is a blow to the government of President Félix Tshisekedi.

Government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said Rwanda was violating DR Congo’s territorial integrity through expansionist ambitions and human rights abuses.

The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of sowing chaos in the region – as well as having troops on the ground – so it can benefit from its natural resources, something Kigali denies.

President Tshisekedi wants his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame to face sanctions over the latest unrest.

But President Kagame has dismissed such threats – and has repeatedly pointed out that Rwanda’s main priority is its security.

He has long been angered by what he sees as the failure of the Congolese authorities to deal with the DR Congo-based FLDR rebel group, which he sees as a danger to Rwanda.

The group is made up of some members of the ethnic Hutu militia accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda when over 100 days around 800,000 people, mainly from the Tutsi ethnic group, were killed.

Troops from the Tusti-led M23 gathered at the Place de l’Indépendance in central Bukavu on Sunday, where one of its commanders, Bernard Byamungu, was filmed chatting to locals and answering their questions in Swahili.

He urged government forces “hiding in houses” to surrender – and accused the withdrawing military of spreading terror by arming local youths who had gone on a looting rampage.

The African Union (AU) – which has been holding a heads of state summit in Ethiopia this weekend – again urged the M23 to disarm.

“We are all very, very concerned about an open regional war,” Reuters quotes the AU’s peace and security commissioner Bankole Adeo as saying.

Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance which includes M23 rebels, told Reuters news agency the rebels had entered the South Kivu provincial capital on Friday evening and would continue their advance on Saturday.

The Rwandan-backed militants’ progress comes despite international calls for a ceasefire and a resumption of peace talks.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes in recent weeks as a result of the rebel advance.

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Last month, the Tutsi-led M23, which is backed by neighbouring Rwanda, seized Goma, the main city in the mineral-rich east. The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of sowing chaos in the region in order to benefit from its resources, a claim Rwanda has denied.

The M23 briefly captured Goma in a previous conflict in 2012, but the taking of Bukavu, which is the capital of South Kivu province, would represent a new phase in the turbulent recent history of the region.

The city, which borders Rwanda, is on the southern tip of Lake Kivu and is an important transit point for the local mineral trade.

Earlier on Friday, rebel fighters had entered the airport some 30km (19 miles) north of Bukavu, as the Congolese army and a militia allied with it withdrew without putting up much resistance.

But there were heavy clashes on the outskirts of Bukavu, South Kivu’s Deputy governor Jean Elekano, had told the BBC.

In a village further north – Mayba – 70 bodies were found in a church, according to local media reports.

A local community coordinator in North Kivu, Vianney Vitswamba, told the DR Congo news agency 7Sur7 that the bodies were found tied up. Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels – an Islamic State-linked group – were blamed, but the BBC has not confirmed the report.

• The DR Congo rebel leader whose fighters have created turmoil
• What’s the fighting in DR Congo all about?

Residents of Bukavu contacted by the BBC said the authorities advised residents to remain indoors.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, DR Congo’s President Félix Tshisekedi called for Rwanda to be sanctioned, accusing it of having “expansionist ambitions”, the AFP news agency reports.

“We will no longer put up with our strategic resources being plundered for the benefit of foreign interests under the complicit gaze of those who feed on chaos,” he is quoted as saying.

As well as being accused of backing the rebels, which Rwanda has denied, the country is also said to have its own troops in eastern DR Congo.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has said his country’s priority is security. He has said Rwanda is in danger from Hutu rebels in DR Congo and has dismissed any threat of sanctions.

The news of the latest advance comes as the continent’s heads of state are due to meet at an African Union (AU) summit in Ethiopia on Saturday.

The head of the AU commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat is quoted by AFP as saying that a ceasefire “must be observed” adding that “military campaigns are not going to solve these problems. There is a general mobilisation of Africa today on this issue and I hope that we will be able to impose this ceasefire”.

The appeal comes as M23 rebels captured Goma, the largest city in eastern DR Congo, while the United Nations’ refugee agency estimates more than 400,000 people have been forced from their homes this year.

A group of UN experts maintains the Rwandan army is in “de facto control of M23 operations”.

DR Congo’s Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner has written to the owners of Arsenal and PSG and to Bayern president Herbert Hainer to “question the morality” of the deals.

She highlighted how Visit Rwanda’s sponsorship could be funded by the illicit mining of blood minerals in the occupied parts of DR Congo, before being transported across the border and exported from Rwanda.

In her letter to Arsenal, Kayikwamba Wagner stated that Rwanda’s “culpability” for the ongoing conflict “has become incontrovertible” after the UN reported that 4,000 Rwandan troops are active in the DRC.

“It is time Arsenal ended its blood-stained sponsorship deals with this oppressor nation. If not for your own consciences, then the clubs should do it for the victims of Rwandan aggression,” she wrote.

Arsenal, PSG, Bayern Munich and Visit Rwanda have been contacted for comment.

The Visit Rwanda campaign has successfully raised the east African country’s profile but Rwanda’s government has been accused of investing in sport to enhance its global image – a strategy labelled by critics as ‘sportswashing’.

A sleeve partnership with Arsenal began in 2018, with the latest sponsorship reported to be worth more than £10m ($12.39 million) per year.

A sponsorship with PSG was agreed the following year, and Bayern Munich signed a five-year football development and tourism promotion partnership with Rwanda in 2023.

Meanwhile, Rwanda President Paul Kagame has announced a bid to stage a Formula 1 race and Kigali is set to be the venue for cycling’s World Road Championships in September.

On Friday the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, said there were no plans to relocate the event away from Rwanda.

The Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, a campaign group which investigates and reports on cases of abuse around the globe, says these deals and events help hide Rwanda’s “abysmal track record” on human rights.

“Rwanda has major flaws with due process which violate its own internal laws or international standards,” HRW’s Lewis Mudge told BBC Sport Africa last month.

“Increasingly we’re seeing the space for freedom of expression, for some degree of political autonomy, is actually shrinking.”

The Rwandan government has dismissed accusations of sportswashing, with its chief tourism officer Irene Murerwa calling them “a distraction” from the “amazing and outstanding achievements the country has made”.

The UN says at least 700 people have been killed in intense fighting in Goma since Sunday.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said 2,800 people have been injured, as M23 rebels – backed by Rwanda – captured the capital of North Kivu province.

The rebels are now reported to be moving south towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu.

The conflict in eastern DR Congo dates back to the 1990s but has rapidly escalated in recent weeks.

M23, which is made up of ethnic Tutsis, say they are fighting for minority rights, while DR Congo’s government says the Rwanda-backed rebels are seeking control of the eastern region’s vast mineral wealth.

Authorities in Kigali have denied direct military involvement in the conflict, insisting its troops are only stationed along the border to protect its territory and civilians.

The bloody conflict in the eastern DRC took a dramatic turn this week when Kigali-backed fighters from the M23 claimed to take control of Goma in North Kivu province before advancing southwards in the direction of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu.

“We  will continue the march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa,” declared rebel leader Corneille Nangaa on Thursday, four days after the group said it had captured Goma, where fighting left dozens killed and saw surrendering Congolese soldiers being trucked out of the city to an undisclosed location.

On Thursday, M23 fighters were reportedly within striking distance of a strategic military airport in the city of Kavumu, located about 40km (25 miles) north of Bukavu, according to local sources quoted by AFP news agency.

A United Nations spokesperson warned on the same day that the organisation was concerned by “credible reports” that the M23 was “moving rapidly” towards Bukavu, which has a population of two million.

UN experts claim the M23 – one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in DRC’s east – is backed by some 4,000 soldiers from Rwanda, which Kinshasa says is pillaging valuable resources from the mineral-rich territory.

Rwanda, for its part, says its primary aim is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide, accusing the Congolese military of joining forces with ethnic Hutu-led militias bent on slaughtering Tutsis and threatening its neighbour.

The rebel fighters claim they are open to dialogue with the government in Kinshasa. But Congolese Defence Minister Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita rejected talks this week, saying in a video message that plans for any dialogue with the rebels be “burned immediately”.

In response to the fast-moving crisis, leaders of regional bloc the Southern African Development Community (SADC) convened an emergency summit in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, on Friday.

The meeting follows soaring tensions between Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa after the deaths of 13 South African soldiers in DRC’s east.

Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said on Thursday: “We are ready to defend ourselves if we are attacked by a coalition including South African forces.”

Goma  remained largely without electricity and water on Thursday, as the bodies of several alleged government soldiers lay in the streets.

The M23 offensive has heightened an already dire humanitarian crisis in the region, causing food and water shortages and forcing half a million people from their homes this month, according to the International Organization for Migration.

“Millions of people were already displaced by years of conflict in eastern DRC, and humanitarian needs were massive. With the current alarming upsurge in fighting, an already dire situation is rapidly becoming very much worse,” said IOM director general Amy Pope.

Thousands of people have been fleeing “multiple active conflict zones”, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said.

The aid agencies said their warehouses with food and medical supplies have been looted as M23 rebels continue to battle to take control of the city.

Anger has been growing over the M23 offensive, and calls for peace talks to end the fighting are mounting.

“Hospitals are overwhelmed. There are currently hundreds of people in hospital, most admitted with gunshot wounds,” the Reuters news agency quoted Adelheid Marschang, the World Health Organization’s emergency response coordinator for the Democratic Republic of Congo, as saying.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its hospital received more than 100 wounded in just 24 hours, a number it previously received over the course of a month.

It said this had forced its staff to turn the hospital car park into a triage unit.

The use of heavy artillery in densely populated areas is causing severe injuries, particularly among children, it added.

• What’s the fighting in DR Congo all about?

Both the ICRC and the World Food Programme say their warehouses have been looted in recent days.

Reports say at least 17 people have been killed and close to 400 wounded.

On Tuesday, South Africa said that four more of its soldiers, who are in DR Congo as part of peacekeeping efforts, had died as a result of clashes with the M23.

This brings the total number of South African casualties to 13. Malawi and Uruguay have also lost peacekeepers.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday spoke to his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, with the two agreeing on an urgent need for ceasefire and resumption of peace taks

The African Union is also set to host an emergency meeting later on Tuesday.

Late on Monday, DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi held a meeting with leaders of some state institutions to evaluate the situation in the city.

“Our soldiers and the [pro-government militia] Wazalendo continue to hold certain positions in the city” said Vital Kamerhe, the speaker of the National Assembly after the meeting.

He said the president would address the nation later on the matter, without giving specific details.

Since Friday, Goma has been cut off from electricity and water, and Mr Kamerhe said the government was working hard to restore them to the city.

He said the government was also seeking diplomatic and political solutions to the crisis.

It came as the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the M23 attack in a call with Tshisekedi.

In a statement, the US State Department said the Congolese leader agreed on the need to restart peace talks “as soon as possible” with Rwanda, which is accused of backing the rebels.

Mr Rubio also spoke to Kenya’s President William Ruto, agreeing to push forward peace talks. A meeting called by the Kenyan leader between Tshisekedi and Kagame has been scheduled for Wednesday.

The Congolese government has also asked for another meeting of the UN Security Council – demanding that this time it take tough action against Rwanda

During an emergency UN meeting on Sunday, DR Congo demanded sanctions against Rwanda, saying its forces had crossed into its territory in what amounted to a “declaration of war”.

Following the meeting, the UN condemned M23 advances and the “ongoing flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DR Congo”, including the presence of “external forces”.

Rwanda has in the past denied direct support for the M23, but the UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix has said there is no doubt its troops were supporting the rebels.

In the capital Kinshasa, angry protesters on Tuesday burned parts of the French embassy, to express discontent over the M23’s offensive.

They stormed the streets, restricting circulation, and burning tyres and disrupting traffic.

Plumes of smoke could be seen billowing as parts of the embassy went up in flames.

Some residents preferred to observe a day of the “dead city”, following a call by civil societies to stay at home in solidarity with Goma.

The fate of the economic and trading hub Goma is still unclear. UN officials have said the situation is chaotic with fighting continuing in parts of the city.

A Congolese government official has said the army is still in control of most of the regional capital, but M23 rebels who have attacked the city dispute that.

Reports say at least 17 people have been killed and close to 400 wounded.

On Tuesday, South Africa said that four more of its soldiers, who are in DR Congo as part of peacekeeping efforts, had died as a result of clashes with the M23.

This brings the total number of South African casualties to 13. Malawi and Uruguay have also lost peacekeepers.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday spoke to his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, with the two agreeing on an urgent need for ceasefire and resumption of peace taks

The African Union is also set to host an emergency meeting later on Tuesday.

Late on Monday, DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi held a meeting with leaders of some state institutions to evaluate the situation in the city.

“Our soldiers and the [pro-government militia] Wazalendo continue to hold certain positions in the city” said Vital Kamerhe, the speaker of the National Assembly after the meeting.

He said the president would address the nation later on the matter, without giving specific details.

Since Friday, Goma has been cut off from electricity and water, and Mr Kamerhe said the government was working hard to restore them to the city.

He said the government was also seeking diplomatic and political solutions to the crisis.

It came as the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the M23 attack in a call with Tshisekedi.

In a statement, the US State Department said the Congolese leader agreed on the need to restart peace talks “as soon as possible” with Rwanda, which is accused of backing the rebels.

Mr Rubio also spoke to Kenya’s President William Ruto, agreeing to push forward peace talks. A meeting called by the Kenyan leader between Tshisekedi and Kagame has been scheduled for Wednesday.

The Congolese government has also asked for another meeting of the UN Security Council – demanding that this time it take tough action against Rwanda

During an emergency UN meeting on Sunday, DR Congo demanded sanctions against Rwanda, saying its forces had crossed into its territory in what amounted to a “declaration of war”.

Following the meeting, the UN condemned M23 advances and the “ongoing flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DR Congo”, including the presence of “external forces”.

Rwanda has in the past denied direct support for the M23, but the UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix has said there is no doubt its troops were supporting the rebels.

The well-armed M23 is often accused of being a Rwandan proxy force, but the UN experts have put forward evidence to suggest that it also has Uganda’s support.

Uganda has denied the allegations in the UN report that also accuses Rwanda of having up to 4,000 troops in DR Congo fighting alongside the rebels.

In response, Rwanda did not deny the allegation and told the BBC the DR Congo government lacked the political will to resolve the crisis in its mineral-rich east, which has witnessed decades of unrest.

The UN experts said that Rwandan troops were “matching if not surpassing” the number of M23 fighters, thought to be at around 3,000 in mid-April, on Congolese soil.

Rwanda has long been angered by the presence of ethnic Hutu rebels, known as the FDLR, in eastern DR Congo – joint operations in the past have failed to eliminate them.

The group’s leaders are accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

The Tutsi-led M23 first emerged with great ferocity in 2012, only to be defeated the following year with the help of a multinational force when most of its fighters fled to camps in Rwanda and Uganda.

They began to rearm three years ago and the group now controls swathes of territory in the North Kivu province, where the UN report says M23 has installed a parallel administration.

Three million people are estimated to have fled their homes because of the fighting.

The UN experts’ 293-page report, which covers events up until mid-April, has just been published – but it was first handed to the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee and then sent to the UN Security Council last month.

Their report also warned that Burundi’s military had been involved in operations with the Congolese army against the M23 and Rwandan soldiers, exacerbating regional tensions.

DR Congo’s Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said she was concerned by the allegations of collusion between the Uganda army, M23 and Rwandan military.

She said the issue would be taken up with Uganda with whom DR Congo has been involved in a joint offensive against another rebel group, the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which attacks both countries.

But the UN report said it was likely that Uganda was allowing M23 supplies and new recruits through its territory.

“Since the resurgence of the M23 crisis, Uganda has not prevented the presence of M23 and Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) troops on its territory or passage through it,” it said.

Ugandan military intelligence officers had also been in the Congolese town of Bunagana since at least late 2023 “to co-ordinate with M23 leaders, provide logistics and transport M23 leaders to M23-controlled area”.

The report also noted that M23 leaders, including its military chief Sultani Makenga – who is subject to a UN sanctions travel ban – had travelled to Uganda for meetings.

Uganda deputy military spokesman, Deo Akiiki, told the Reuters news agency the allegations in the report were false: “It would be mad for us to destabilise the same area we are sacrificing it all to have it stable.”

But the report further details Uganda’s alleged support for the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) – a newly created movement regarded by some analysts as the political arm of the M23.

It is led by DR Congo’s former electoral chief and says it wants to bring peace to the east, but according to sources quoted in the UN report, it has been seen as an opportunity to legitimise the M23 “while diminishing the role of Rwanda in the crisis”.

A joint AFC-M23 statement in response to a leaked version of the report said the UN experts had distorted the situation which might “obstruct the creation of lasting peace”.

It also gave detailed accounts of other things it felt were incorrect, like an alleged M23 attack at Goma airport and the M23’s alleged forced recruitment and use of child soldiers, which Rwanda denies too.

The AFC-M23 also denied Rwanda’s involvement in the conflict, saying the “obsession with establishing a connection between M23 and Rwanda participates in fuelling the hate ideology which is the root cause of the violence” in eastern DR Congo.

The UN report said by early April 2024, the M23 and Rwanda military’s area of influence was the largest ever recorded – representing a 70% increase since November.

It said that the deployment of advanced military technology and equipment bolstered joint M23-Rwandan military operations, “altering conflict dynamics” including by grounding all Congolese military “air assets”.

The report included photos and screengrabs giving details of the weapons and drones used – allegedly provided to the M23 despite an arms embargo.

Rwanda’s government spokesperson Yolande Makolo accused Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi of sabre-rattling.

“He has also consistently threatened to declare war on Rwanda,” she told the BBC, accusing the Congolese army of financing and fighting alongside the FDLR.

She said DR Congo had all the power to de-escalate the situation if it wanted to “but until then Rwanda will continue to defend itself”.

A regional force from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) was deployed at the end of last year to help DR Congo’s military deal with conflicts in the east.

The gold and money was hidden under the seats of the vehicle they were travelling in, according to Jean Jacques Purusi, the governor of South Kivu province.

He said the operation to arrest the men had been kept secret after the recent release of another group of Chinese nationals accused of running an illegal gold mine in the area.

Eastern DR Congo has abundant reserves of gold, diamonds and the minerals used to make batteries for mobile phones and electric vehicles.

This mineral wealth has been plundered by foreign groups since the colonial era and is one of the main reasons why the region has been plagued by instability for the last 30 years.

Militia groups control many of the mines in eastern DR Congo and their leaders become wealthy by selling it to middle-men.

Purusi said some of these dealers in precious metals enjoyed good relations with influential people in the capital, Kinshasa, and this was why the mission to carry out these latest arrests had to be kept quiet.

He said they had been acting on a tip-off and that the gold and money was only found after a meticulous search of the vehicle in the Walungu area not far from the border with Rwanda.He did not say exactly how much gold had been seized.

Last month, the governor told reporters he was shocked to hear that 17 Chinese nationals, who had been arrested on allegations they had been running an illegal gold mine, had been freed and allowed to return to China.

He said this undermined efforts to clean up DR Congo’s notoriously murky mineral sector.

They owed $10m in taxes and fines to the government, the Reuters news agency quotes him as saying.The Chinese embassy has not commented on the allegations.

The arrests come as fighting continues to flare in the neighbouring North Kivu province, where a Rwanda-backed rebel group has captured large areas of territory.

Last month, DR Congo said it was suing Apple over the use of “blood minerals”, prompting the tech giant to say it had stopped getting supplies from both DR Congo and neighbouring Rwanda.

Rwanda has denied being a conduit for the export of illegal minerals from DR Congo.In their lawsuit, lawyers acting for the Congolese government alleged that the minerals taken from conflict areas was then “laundered through international supply chains”.

“These activities have fuelled a cycle of violence and conflict by financing militias and terrorist groups and have contributed to forced child labour and environmental devastation,” they said.

“Contrary to what we expected, the summit will no longer be held today,” the presidency’s media officer Mario Jorge told journalists on Sunday, without elaborating on why the meeting was cancelled at the last minute.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco – the African Union mediator to end the conflict – was meeting alone with DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi, Jorge said.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame had been expected at the meeting but it was not clear if he was in Angola.

The DRC presidency said in a statement that the meeting was cancelled because the Rwandan delegation refused to take part.

Rwanda’s foreign ministry said that a lack of consensus over direct talks between the DRC and a rebel group meant that it would not have been possible for a deal to be signed on Sunday.

There had been hopes the talks would reach an agreement to end the conflict in the eastern DRC, where the M23 fighter group – which the DRC and the UN say is backed by Rwanda – has seized swaths of territory, displacing thousands and triggering a major humanitarian crisis.

Before the talks, fighting intensified between the DRC army and the M23 rebel group on Friday.

The DRC’s army had accused M23 of killing 12 civilians earlier this week in villages of the Lubero territory in the eastern province of North Kivu.

An M23 spokesperson, however, denied the accusation, discrediting it as “propaganda” from the DRC government.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich eastern part of DRC near the border with Rwanda.

The conflict there has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than seven million people displaced.

Rwanda denies that it backs the M23, but in February admitted that it has troops and missile systems in eastern DRC to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of DRC forces near the border.

According to a UN expert group report, 3,000 to 4,000 Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) members are fighting alongside the M23 in DRC.

Last month, the DRC and Rwanda’s foreign ministers agreed on the terms and conditions of the disengagement of Rwandan forces in eastern DRC.

In July, DRC signed a ceasefire with M23 that came into effect in August, but fighting has resumed since.

Earlier this month, the United States said it was “gravely concerned” by ceasefire violations by M23 rebels.

Aline Kasereka, a mother of six living in the DRC’s town of Lubero, approximately 50km (30 miles) from the villages where the fighting took place this week, said the peace talks between the two neighbouring countries are urgently needed.

“We are tired of the war, every day we move, we do not know in which country we are any more,” Kasereka told The Associated Press news agency.