The United Nations Security Council on Sunday demanded that M23 rebel forces stop an ongoing offensive and advance towards Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and that "external forces" in the region immediately withdraw.

Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces rages around the key eastern city of Goma, leaving at least 13 peacekeepers and foreign soldiers dead and displacing thousands of civilians.

Rwanda-backed rebels have claimed they captured eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, as the United Nations describe a “mass panic” among its 2 million people and Congo’s government say the rebel