Rwandan-backed rebel forces have captured the town of Masisi in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to various reports.
It is the second town captured by the M23 group in as many days in the mineral-rich North Kivu province.
The group has taken control of large parts of eastern DR Congo since 2021. here, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
Angola is trying to mediate the talks between President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame. But they broke last month.
“We are horrified to learn of the capture of Masisi center by the M23,” Alexis Bahunga, a member of the North Kivu provincial assembly, told AFP.
He said this was “plunging the territory into a serious humanitarian crisis” and called on the government to strengthen the army's capacity in the region.
One resident told AFP that M23 held a meeting of the town's residents, saying they had “come to liberate the country”.
Congolese authorities have not yet commented on the loss of the city.
Masisi, which has a population of about 40,000, is the capital of the territory of the same name.
It is about 80 km (50 mi) north of the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma, which the M23 briefly occupied in 2012.
On Friday, the M23 captured the nearby town of Katale.
Last year there were concerns that The M23 would again march towards Gomaa city of about two million people.
After that, however, there was a lull in fighting until early December, when fighting resumed.
In July, Rwanda did not deny a A UN report says there are about 4,000 troops fighting alongside M23 in DR Congo.
It accused the Congolese government of not doing enough to deal with the decades-old conflict in the east of the country. Rwanda has previously said that DR Congo authorities are working with some of those responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. against ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutu.
M23, formed as an offshoot of another rebel group, began operating in 2012, ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in eastern DR Congo, who had long complained of persecution and discrimination.
However, Rwanda's critics accuse it of using the M23 to plunder eastern DR Congo for minerals such as gold, cobalt and tantalum, which are used to make mobile phones and batteries for electric cars.
Last month, DR Congo said it was suing Apple over its use of such “blood minerals,” prompting the tech giant to say it had stopped receiving supplies from the country.