(Reuters) -Rwandan-backed M23 rebels asserted their control over east Congo's largest city Goma on Thursday by calling on residents to resume normal life, even as the group clashed with Congolese troops as they tried to take more territory.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has arrived in Congo's capital Kinshasa, an official at the presidency said on Thursday, as Rwanda-backed rebels consolidated control of Goma in the east of the African country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Wednesday, Netanyahu said in a statement, amid the Gaza ceasefire and a regional diplomatic push.

Local sources said Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province, after the rebel group’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

The scene is the result of the invasion of Goma on January 27th by M23, an armed group under the control of Rwanda, Congo’s neighbour, which abuts the city. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president, has escalated a crisis whose origins go back decades.

FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade speaks to Dr Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, about the M23 offensive in eastern DR Congo. He says that the ambitions of the Rwanda-backed M23 differ now from their aims back in 2012,

Tanzania and Malawi troops are operating in DRC under SAMIDRC, while Burundian troops are in DRC under a bilateral arrangement with the DRC government

After a lightning offensive, M23 rebels now control Goma, a large city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Your smartphone is also a factor In the Congolese capital Kinshasa, 1,600 kilometres west of Goma, protesters attacked a United Nations compound and embassies, including those of Rwanda ...

The Rwanda-backed armed group M23 vowed Thursday to "continue the march of liberation" to the DR Congo capital Kinshasa, as its fighters made further advances in the mineral-rich east of the country.

Police in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fired tear gas at protesters in the capital, Kinshasa, on Tuesday, after embassies were attacked over the conflict in the country's east.