Streets were empty, shops shuttered and soldiers fled the eastern DR Congo city of Uvira on Wednesday, a day after a Rwanda-backed militia entered the strategic city's outskirts, prompting Burundi to close its border.

The M23's assault comes less than a year after the anti-government armed group seized control of Goma and Bukavu, two key provincial capitals in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been plagued by conflict for three decades.

Its latest rapid advance -- launched on December 1 in South Kivu province against a Congolese army backed by Burundian forces -- also comes just days after the signing of an agreement aimed at ending the conflict brokered by US President Donald Trump.

Burundi, which neighbours both the DRC and Rwanda, views the prospect of

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