Congo's leader has called on young people to enlist in the army to help fight Rwanda-backed rebels attempting to seize more territory in the country's conflict-battered east.

Residents of the besieged city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, say they are gripped by fear as gunshots continue to ring out around their homes, days after rebel forces claimed they had taken over.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.

By Yassin Kombi and Sonia Rolley GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -Rwandan-backed M23 rebels appeared to have consolidated their control over Goma, with eastern Congo's largest city mostly quiet on Wednesday apart from sporadic gunfire in some outlying districts,

Bodies are lying on the streets. Medical staff in overwhelmed hospitals are treating hundreds of wounded civilians against the backdrop of gunfire and mortar fire.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for a urgent cease-fire in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo saying Washington was "deeply troubled" by a recent escalation in the fighting.

Our peacekeepers are also planning on sending out patrols today in Goma to assess the situation, to conduct resupplies and assess routes in the capital,' says spokesman - Anadolu Ajansı

A conflict that has raged for decades reached a flashpoint this week when rebels backed by Rwanda marched on a key Congolese city in a bid to occupy territory and exploit minerals.

Three Sadc members: Tanzania, South Africa and Malawi, contributed troops to the Sadc Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), which is also funded by the United Nations, to disarm rebels in eastern DRC and also defend the country’s territorial integrity.

Shifting calculations by sponsors of the M23 rebel group risk triggering another war in the Great Lakes Region, underscoring importance of African mediators and global partners acting quickly to stem the fighting.