Noël Barrot has arrived in Congo's capital Kinshasa, an official at the presidency said on Thursday, as Rwanda-backed rebels consolidated control of Goma in the east of the African country."The Minister of Foreign Affairs of France will be received in the next few minutes by the president,

FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade speaks to Dr Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, about the M23 offensive in eastern DR Congo. He says that the ambitions of the Rwanda-backed M23 differ now from their aims back in 2012,

Video showed part of the French embassy in Congo’s capital of Kinshasa on fire as protests erupted in anger over M23 rebel advances in the eastern city of Goma. Demonstrators attacked several embassies of countries they accused of complicity in Rwanda’s alleged support of the rebel group.

Gaps in securing Uganda’s embassy in Kinshasa are to blame for the attacks that forced the diplomats into hiding on January 28, Daily Monitor has learnt.

By Benoit Nyemba and David Lewis KINSHASA (Reuters) -Rioters stormed embassies and started fires in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa on Tuesday, drawing tear gas from police, in an eruption of protests over a Rwandan-backed rebel offensive in the east.

Anti-Rwandan protests broke out in Kinshasa Tuesday morning, as rebels battled Congolese forces in the key eastern city of Goma.

Local sources said Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province, after the rebel group’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

France has slammed a series of attacks on diplomatic missions in Kinshasa, fuelled by tensions over the M23 rebel conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The fresh offensive by the M23 rebels and Rwanda forces in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) coincides with the first anniversary of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the European Union (EU) and Rwanda to cooperate on the supply of "critical minerals.

United Nations officials say there were dead bodies on the streets of eastern Congo’s largest city where hospitals are overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands are fleeing gunfire and shelling.

Protesters have attacked missions in the capital of the African country as anger grows about the advance of the M23 rebel group.

Protesters ransacked the embassies of Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and others in Kinshasa and attempted to set them on fire, accusing those countries of supporting or failing to stop the M23 rebels