The United States, France and Britain pressured Rwanda on Sunday over its support for rebels rapidly closing in on eastern Congo's largest city, as government forces struggled to halt an offensive that has forced thousands of civilians to flee.

Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces rages around the key eastern city of Goma, leaving at least 13 peacekeepers and foreign soldiers dead and displacing thousands of civilians.

Britain, the EU, and the United Nations have piled pressure on the African nation over its backing of the M23 rebels