There is a good chance that inside your mobile phone is a miniscule amount of a metal that started its journey buried in the earth of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where a war is currently raging. It may even be directly connected to the M23 rebel group that made global headlines this week.

A Rwanda-backed militia seized the pivotal Congolese city of Goma this week, threatening a new humanitarian crisis after decades of fighting.

The United Nations expressed deep concern at reports of M23 rebels and Rwandan troops advancing south towards the Congolese city of Bukavu on Thursday, as the militants sought also to assert their control over east Congo's largest city Goma.

Kagame's comments clearly suggested that he wants South Africa to back off from DR Congo, where its military involvement dates back to the late 1990s. It first joined the UN's peacekeeping mission, Monusco, following the end of the racist system of apartheid in 1994.

M23 rebels on patrol in Goma, eastern Congo, which has reserves of minerals that are needed by the world’s electronics giants © AFP/ Rwanda’s stealth occupation of eastern Congo on x (opens in a new w

Rwanda-backed rebels were expanding their presence in eastern Congo after capturing Goma, the region’s major city, the U.N. said Friday, also expressing concerns over executions it learned were carried out by the rebels in recent days following a major escalation of their yearslong rebellion.

We will stay here in Congo and fight. If we do not stay alive here, let’s stay dead here,’ said Congo’s defence minister.