The DR Congo army and M23 fighters clashed outside Goma on Friday as the UK, United States and France urged citizens to leave the main city in the country's volatile east, warning the situation could deteriorate rapidly.

Authorities say the governor of eastern Congo’s North Kivu province has died from injuries sustained in fighting on the front line as M23 rebels close in on Goma.

Civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are at increasing risk as the abusive M23 armed group, supported by the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), approaches Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

File photo taken on April 11 2024 shows Peter Cirimwami the military governor of North Kivu in an interview in Goma

Fighting between M23 rebels and Democratic Republic of Congo’s army intensified on Friday with the militia threatening to take the trading hub of Goma and the United Nations warning of a regional war.

Luggage on their backs, they trudged all Wednesday morning along the road leading to downtown Goma, fleeing the advancing fighters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

M23 rebels made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling Goma, which is home to around two million people.

Panic spread in Goma on Thursday, with M23 rebels steadily inching closer to the city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as they battle the national army. (AP Video shot by Justin Kabumba)

M23 and government. forces. Zones occupied. by M23. 200 km. kinshasa. Rwanda. Lake Kivu. Map data: OSM, NASA. Sources: military and humanitari

The EU issued a statement expressing deep concern about the continued escalation of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), aggravated by the renewed offensive of the M23 supported by the Rwandan Armed Forces.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, thousands more people have been displaced in recent days after M23 rebels seized the key eastern town of Minova, a main supply route for Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.