Rwanda-backed M23 rebels enter Bukavu, escalating conflict and causing displacement in eastern Congo amid ceasefire violations and international concerns.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have entered east Congo's second-largest city of Bukavu, residents and a community leader say. Kansas City retiree who shot Ralph Yarl after the Black teen mistakenly rang his doorbell pleads guilty to lesser charge.

Panic swept through eastern Congo’s second-largest city on Saturday as residents and soldiers fled by the thousands, scrambling to escape the looming advance of Rwanda-backed rebels. The morning after M23 fighters entered the outskirts of Bukavu — a city of about 1.

Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern Congo have claimed that they have seized a second airport in the region following a days-long advance towards Bukavu city. Meanwhile the U.N. warned that the

M23 rebels have advanced into the centre of Bukavu, South Kivu’s capital, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwanda-backed M23 insurgents shot dead three boys who had picked up guns left by Congolese soldiers fleeing the rebel advance in eastern Congo, the U.N. said on Tuesday, adding the incident to a list of grave human rights violations reported during the conflict.

Volker Türk said Tuesday that his office "confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week."

Three children were executed by the Rwanda-backed M23 after they donned weapons and uniforms abandoned by the Congolese army in the eastern city of Bukavu, the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday (February 18).

Government forces and local militias have clashed south of the provincial capital of Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as troops fall back in the face of an advance by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels,

The U.N. human rights chief accused Rwanda-backed rebels who seized a second major city in eastern Congo of killing children and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian aid. Volker Türk said in a statement Tuesday that his office “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week.

Rwanda-backed rebels who captured eastern Congo’s major city of Goma have targeted relatives of fleeing Congolese soldiers. That's according to the soldier's families.