RWANDA-backed M23 militia battling the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army captured another strategic town in the country’s mineral-rich east, residents and insurgents said on Thursday.

This comes despite ceasefire calls this week by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents.

The decades-long conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January when the M23 militia advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by the town of Bukavu in February.