The Rwanda-backed M23 militia captured most of the key eastern DR Congo town of Uvira late on Wednesday, in a move Burundi called a "middle finger" to the United States after the signing of a peace deal in Washington.

Eyewitness footage whose filming location was verified by AFP showed M23 tanks rolling through the streets of Uvira, while local and military sources said the militia had control of the provincial governor's headquarters, city hall and border with neighbouring Burundi.

Streets had emptied, shops shuttered and soldiers fled after the militia's entry late on Tuesday plunged the city of several hundred thousand residents into uncertainty over who was in charge.

It comes less than a year after the anti-government group seized Goma and Bukavu, two provincial capitals in the min

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