Panic and looting are sweeping through eastern DR Congo’s

🇨🇩Panic and looting are sweeping through eastern DR Congo's second largest city as residents fled by the thousands to escape the looming advance of M23 rebels.
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This comes a day after M23 fighters entered the outskirts of Bukavu. On Saturday, residents flooded the streets attempting to leave as looters filled sacks with what they could find, the Associated Press reports. 

The AP said reports and social media videos showed the region's factories pillaged and prisons emptied.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Chief on Saturday said the Democratic Republic of Congo's "territorial integrity" must be respected and a regional war avoided, at an African summit in Ethiopia's Addis Ababa.

With international pressure mounting on Rwanda to curb the fighting in eastern DRC, the conflict was set to dominate the AU summit.

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame was seen attending meetings at the gathering, but DRC president Felix Tshisekedi was absent from the summit as the M23 advanced through his country's territory, AFP reports.
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The European Union said Saturday it was "urgently" considering all options in response to a widening rebel offensive in the eastern DRC, after Bukavu's seizure.

"The EU urgently considers all the means at its disposal. The ongoing violation of the DRC's territorial integrity will not go unanswered," European Commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni wrote on X.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse dominate the AU summit. According to AFP, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi was not present at the conference as the M23 pushed into his country, while Rwandan President Paul Kagame was spotted holding meetings at the event.

Following the capture of Bukavu, the European Union declared on Saturday that it was "urgently" weighing all of its options in response to a growing rebel advance in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. "The EU rapidly examines every option available to it. Anouar El Anouni, the spokesperson for the European Commission, stated on X that "the continuous violation of the DRC's territorial integrity will not go unanswered." Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press contributed some of the information for this story.

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