The Rwanda-backed rebels who seized eastern Congo’s key city of Goma have announced a unilateral ceasefire in the region for humanitarian reasons, following calls for a safe corridor for aid and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels asserted their control over east Congo's largest city Goma on Thursday by calling on residents to resume normal life, even as the group clashed with Congolese troops as they tried to take more territory.

In the capital, Kinshasa, protesters complaining of a lack of international action attacked foreign embassies, including those of the U.S., France and Rwanda.