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.

Congo’s largest church organizations met Wednesday with Rwanda-backed rebels in the country’s east in the latest push for peace and dialogue after weekslong fighting that saw the rebels seize the region’s largest city of Goma.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) near eastern city of Goma board pirogues on Lake Kivu after leaving the nearby Bulengo IDP camp. They were fleeing renewed fighting between the DRC army and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels n the area.

Rwanda security officials check people crossing from Congo in Gyseny, Rwanda, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, following M23 rebels’ advances into eastern Congo’s capital Goma. (Yuhi Irakiza/AP) Rwanda-backed M23 rebels captured a strategic airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo,

Defeated soldiers from the Southern Africa Development Community’s (SADC) peace mission were seen leaving Goma by road without their equipment or uniforms.

Mu gihe urugendo ruva ku bigo byabo i Goma rwatangiye mu gitondo ku wa mbere, mu ijoro nibwo umurongo w'imodoka zabo wagaragaye werekeza i Kigali.

Umugwi witwaje ibigwanisho wa M23 uri mu ntambara mu buseruko bwa Repuburika ya Demokarasi ya Congo uherutse gufata ibisagara bibiri bikomeye, Goma na Bukavu, imirwa mikuru y'intara za Kivu ya ruguru

M23 rebels backed by Rwanda took the city of Goma in a bloody battle. This weekend, the group entered the gold-trading center of Bukavu in eastern Congo after government soldiers fled.

Causing surprise across the bloc, Luxembourg has blocked the adoption of sanctions against Kigali. European ministers have suspended EU defence consultations with Rwanda. View on euronews

The Rwandan shore of Lake Kivu offers leisure and relaxation. Across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the same lake was recently the site of devastation and misery after a rebel offensive.