The Rwanda-backed rebels who seized eastern Congo’s key city of Goma have announced a unilateral ceasefire in the region for humanitarian reasons, following calls for a safe corridor for aid and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

United Nations agencies called for an end to the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as fighting between

The city of 2 million people is at the heart of a region home to trillions of dollars in mineral wealth and remains in rebel control.

The M23 rebel group has declared a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict in Eastern DRC. This is according to a statement issued by the group's spokesperson. READ: DR Congo, Rwanda leaders to join summit on crisis in war-torn east The rebel group has called for the SADC peacekeeping mission,

The group called the Congo River Alliance also includes the Rwanda- backed M23 rebels, who were reported to be gaining territory in other eastern parts of the country while advancing on South Kivu's provincial capital,