A day after the rebels marched into the lakeside city, protesters in the capital attacked a UN compound and embassies including those of Rwanda, France and the United States, expressing anger at what

France's foreign minister on Monday said an offensive by Rwanda-backed armed group M23 on the Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma "must stop".

In just a few days, rebel fighters and Rwandan soldiers succeeded in taking the major city in eastern Congo. This lightning offensive was prepared in Kigali.

Rebels seized the airport of east Congo's largest city, Goma, on Tuesday, potentially cutting off the main route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of displaced people, after capturing the city in an offensive that left dead bodies lying in the streets.

Goma residents and UN sources said dozens of troops had surrendered, but some soldiers and pro-government militiamen were holding out

Fighting across the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and "is still very much ongoing ... it's not over yet," senior U.N. official in Congo, Bruno Lemarquis, said on Monday after Rwandan-backed M23 rebels claimed to have control of Goma.

Gunfire rang out early on Monday across parts of Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, hours after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels said they had taken control of the city despite the United Nations Security Council's calling for an end to the offensive.

In 2012, when M23 rebels appeared poised to seize control of a major city in eastern Congo, western countries suspended aid to put pressure on Rwanda to withdraw its support.

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.

Rwanda-backed rebels who have captured eastern Congo’s largest city say they plan to take their rebellion to the capital and seek to gain political power

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,