Rwanda-backed rebels who seized a major city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have declared a unilateral ceasefire on humanitarian grounds.
The M23 rebel group announced on Monday that the ceasefire would come into effect on Tuesday.
It came just under a week after the rebels completed their three-day capture of Goma – the regional capital of eastern DRC – after fierce battles with Congolese forces.
The UN health agency has said at least 900 people died during fighting in the days that followed, while Congo’s communications minister Patrick Muyaya on Monday more than 2,000 bodies are waiting to be buried in Goma.
The ceasefire announcement came after foreign ministers from G7 nations, including the UK, urged both sides in the conflict to return to negotiations.
In a statement on Monday, they called for a “rapid, safe and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians”.
The fighting in Goma forced hundreds of thousands of people who had been displaced by years of conflict to carry what remained of their belongings and flee again – with many pouring into nearby Rwanda.
Goma, home to two million people, is at the heart of a region home to trillions of dollars in mineral wealth and remains in rebel control despite the ceasefire announcement.
Following the capture of the city, the Rwanda-backed rebels were said to be moving towards Bukavu in South Kivu, also in the east of the country.
However, they appeared to be held up by Congolese troops that were supported by the army from neighbouring country Burundi.
M23 had also expressed a desire to march to DRC’s capital Kinshasa before the rebel group’s spokesman, Lawrence Kanyuka, said on Monday: “It must be made clear that we have no intention of capturing Bukavu or other areas.
“However, we reiterate our commitment to protecting and defending the civilian population and our positions.”
The M23 group cited “humanitarian reasons” for the ceasefire.
There was no immediate comment from Congo’s government after it was declared.
The rebels’ announcement came ahead of a joint summit this week by regional blocs for southern and eastern Africa, which had called for a ceasefire.
Kenya’s President William Ruto said the presidents of DRC and Rwanda would attend.
Congolese authorities have said they are open to talks to resolve the conflict, but that such a dialogue must be done within the context of previous peace agreements.
Rwanda and the rebels have accused the DR Congo government of defaulting on previous deals.
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The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from Rwanda, according to UN experts, far more than in 2012 when they first briefly captured Goma then withdrew after international pressure.
They are the most potent of the more than 100 armed groups vying for control in DRC’s volatile eastern borderlands, which hold vast deposits of minerals critical to much of the world’s technology.
M23 is also the latest in a long line of Rwandan-supported rebel movements to emerge in eastern DR Congo following two successive wars stemming from Rwanda’s genocide more than 30 years ago.
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During the atrocity in 1994, members of Rwanda’s majority Hutu population went on the rampage, murdering Tutsis and those who tried to protect them in a massacre that lasted more than 100 days.
M23 now says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in DRC, whom Rwanda claims are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the genocide.
Many Hutus fled to DRC after the massacre and founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia group.
Rwanda said the group is “fully integrated” into the Congolese military, which it denies.
