“He told me it was data entry.”

On Thursday, a member of Kabila’s entourage told AFP that though no formal alliance existed between his party and M23, both shared the “same goal” of ending the rule of President Felix Tshisekedi.The United Nations and the DRC’s government say Rwanda has supported the M23 with arms and troops – an accusation the neighbouring country denies.

The renewed violence has raised fears of igniting a, akin to the wars that the DRC endured in the late 1990s, involving several African countries, which killed millions of people.The current fighting has already displaced about 700,000 people this year, according to the UN.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International accused M23 of committing abuses against civilians in areas under its control, “including torture, killings and enforced disappearances”.“These acts violate international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes,” the

M23 says its goal is to protect ethnic minorities against the government in Kinshasa.

Local officials warn the death toll could rise after heavy rainfall flooded a market town in Niger State.Ukraine’s top army chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, said on Saturday that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area.

Syrskii added that Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia’s Kursk region – a statement Moscow has repeatedly denied.The evacuations and attacks came just two days before a possible meeting between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul, as Washington called on both countries to end the three-year war.

Russia has confirmed it will send a delegation, but Kyiv hasnot yet accepted the proposal