Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed “a vigorous and coordinated response” against a rebel alliance that has besieged swaths of the nation’s mineral-rich east and forced hundreds of local troops and foreign mercenaries to surrender.

Fierce fighting rages on in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma, as rebels and the army exchange fire. "All we can hear [are] gunshots around the city," one Goma resident, who has been trapped in his house since the weekend,