Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga is currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) calling on South African soldiers at the same time as the United Nations (UN) has it the security situation in the country’s east is “deteriorating”.

NZULO, Congo — The M23 rebel group's advance toward eastern Congo's largest city has displaced over 178,000 people in the past two weeks, the United Nations said, as the fighters closed in on Goma on the border with Rwanda.

Laden with just the possessions they can carry, thousands of displaced people have reached the outskirts of the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, fleeing a rapid M23 rebel advance that has taken more territory than ever before.

The army acknowledged Tuesday a "breakthrough" by the M23 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where the armed group fighting government forces has seized a trading hub that supplies the city of Goma.

M23 rebels tightened their stranglehold over key trading routes to the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after taking more towns Monday and Tuesday, Congo’s army said.

The Congolese army says several towns that fell to armed groups in the eastern North Kivu and South Kivu provinces have been recaptured by government forces.

The UN chief on Thursday expressed alarm over a renewed offensive by M23 rebels in recent days in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which is taking a “devastating toll” on civilians.

The M23 armed group has seized further territory in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and on Thursday was continuing to tighten its grip on provincial capital Goma, which is almost surrounded by fighting.

A bout 120,000 children have been forced from their homes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the start of the year as a wave of horrifying violence hits villages [1] with some children becoming separated from their parents and one town cut off, said Save the Children.

Many Congolese see the rebel advance as an invasion of their country by a foreign power in an attempt to seize land and Congo’s valuable rare minerals.

Amnesty International has accused Congo’s army and a rebel group of bombing densely populated areas in attacks that “likely constitute war crimes.”