South Africa often uses its diplomatic heft to position itself as defender of the "global south" on the world stage, but the deaths of 13 of its soldiers in eastern Congo fighting have exposed an inability to project hard power in its own backyard.

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.

The scene is the result of the invasion of Goma on January 27th by M23, an armed group under the control of Rwanda, Congo’s neighbour, which abuts the city. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president, has escalated a crisis whose origins go back decades.

M23 rebels captured the key city of Goma in the eastern DRC Monday, forcing thousands of civilians to flee in the latest in a series of advances - Anadolu Ajansı

Democratic Republic of Congo - A million displaced, one story at a time: Protecting women and girls in the heart of conflict

Kagame says militias backed by the DRC, including Rwandan genocidaires FDLR, were

In June last year, Rwanda's government spokesperson Yolande Makolo hit out about the presence of mercenaries in eastern DR Congo, saying it was a violation of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the use of hired combatants. In response, Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya dismissed what he called Rwanda's perennial complaint.

HARARE, January 30. /TASS/. More than a thousand people were admitted to hospitals in the city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo amid battles between the republic’s armed forces and members of the Rwandan-backed M23 movement on January 23-28, the Actualit· news portal reported.

In 2012, when M23 rebels appeared poised to seize control of a major city in eastern Congo, western countries suspended aid to put pressure on Rwanda to withdraw its support.