REBELS in the Democratic Republic of Congo have claimed control of the main town of Goma and its airport, in the mineral-rich east, as President Joseph Kabila urges people to defend the country's sovereignty.
A column of rebel fighters entered the city from the main airport road, sweeping past government troops, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.
M23 rebel spokesman Colonel Vianney Kazarama said they were in control of Goma and the airport and were "pursuing the enemy" which he claimed was fleeing.
Kabila, in an address to the nation, meanwhile spoke of a "war" situation and urged the population to fight the rebels.
"DR Congo is today confronted with a difficult situation," Kabila said on national television. "When a war is imposed, one has an obligation to resist. I ask that the entire population defend our sovereignty."
Kabila was on Tuesday in the Ugandan capital Kampala for talks on the crisis.
The rebels took control of the border posts between the Goma and Gisenyi, the town on the Rwandan side of the border, another AFP journalist said.
On the Rwandan side of the border no more gunfire was heard coming from Goma, the journalist said.
The advance marked an escalation in the fighting, which erupted last week after a four-month lull and which has raised fears of a wider conflict engulfing the volatile region.
On Monday, loud explosions shook the area and there were reports of looting in Goma, the regional capital of 300,000 right on the border with Rwanda that is also sheltering tens of thousands of refugees who have fled the clashes.
The international community has raised alarm about the fighting, which erupted last Thursday with advances by the M23 rebels, former soldiers who mutinied in April.
The UN accuses neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda of backing the rebels, charges both countries deny.
Washington has warned the fighting was "an extremely dangerous and worrying situation" and the EU, Britain and France have also raised alarm.
The latest round of fighting erupted last week after the US and the UN slapped sanctions on the leader of the M23, Sultani Makenga.
Makenga is accused of atrocities including masterminding killings, rapes, abductions and recruiting child soldiers.
The rebels have said they plan to fight the DR Congo government "until it falls".
Meanwhile, hundreds of Congolese students staged demonstrations in the northeastern town of Kisangi and in Kinshasa.
In Kisangi the students ransacked the offices of the country's ruling party and shouted anti-Kabila slogans while in Kinshasa they put up banners reading "no to war".
The UN has some 1500 "quick reaction" peacekeepers in Goma, part of some 6700 troops in North Kivu province, backing government forces against the rebels.
Aid agencies have evacuated staff from the city and the UN had planned to remove non-essential personnel on Tuesday.
On Monday Kinshasa rejected the rebels' ultimatum for direct talks within 24 hours, calling it "irrational rantings."
"We prefer to negotiate with Rwanda, the real aggressor," government spokesman Lambert Mende told AFP.
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