The UN Human Rights Council is considering whether to launch an investigation into alleged abuses committed in eastern Congo on Kinshasa's request. Rwanda alleged it was responding to an "imminent" threat from Congo.

The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group continued its advance Thursday through eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and looked poised to seize a strategic town, as United Nations chief Antonio Guterres call

The U.N. secretary-general appealed Thursday for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a recent escalation of fighting between rebels and the national army has killed at least 2,900 people and displaced tens of thousands.