Angolan President Joao Lourenco has urged warring parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to return to peace talks, which collapsed last year, the foreign ministry said.

Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has vowed to restore government authority in the east, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have seized control of the city of Goma and are reportedly advancing south to take more territory.

Advances being made by the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo are "heightening the threat of a regional war," according to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

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.

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed “a vigorous and coordinated response” against a rebel alliance that has besieged swaths of the nation’s mineral-rich east and forced hundreds of local troops and foreign mercenaries to surrender.

Violent protests erupt in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, as demonstrators target multiple foreign embassies, including the Dutch mission, amid escalating regional tensions over alleged foreign interference.

A conflict that has raged for decades reached a flashpoint this week when rebels backed by Rwanda marched on a key Congolese city in a bid to occupy territory and exploit minerals.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.

South Africa often uses its diplomatic heft to position itself as defender of the "global south" on the world stage, but the deaths of 13 of its soldiers in eastern Congo fighting have exposed an inability to project hard power in its own backyard.

Angola’s President Joao Lourenco demanded the immediate withdrawal of Rwandan troops from Congolese territory on Wednesday amid fighting with the M23 rebels in Goma. Lourenco, who is the African Union (AU) mediator between Congo and Rwanda, also urged the resumption of peace talks with the M23 and all other groups operating on Congolese territory.