The AFC/M23 rebel coalition announced late on Monday that it would implement a unilateral ceasefire starting on Tuesday. The group, backed by thousands of troops from neighbouring Rwanda, seized Goma, the main city in eastern DRC, last week, with the United Nations estimating 900 people were killed, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

The rebel group M23 declared a ceasefire in areas under its control in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, citing humanitarian reasons. The streets of Goma were busy as aid groups rushed Tuesday to help the thousands of people wounded and displaced during the past week’s fighting between M23 and pro-Congolese government forces.

Rwandan-backed armed group M23 announced a humanitarian "ceasefire" from Tuesday in DR Congo's perennially explosive east, days before a planned crisis meeting between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.