Rwandan-backed M23 rebels advanced on Sunday into the centre of Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, meeting little resistance from government troops, witnesses and the armed group said, as Congo accused Rwanda of ignoring calls for a ceasefire.

M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have captured the eastern city of Bukavu with the backing of Rwandan forces, the second major city in the mineral-rich Kivu region to fall in three weeks.

M23 rebels backed by Rwanda took the city of Goma in a bloody battle. This weekend, the group entered the gold-trading center of Bukavu in eastern Congo after government soldiers fled.