In pictures: Rebel advance in Congo

Tutsi rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo continue to advance, after battles last week left an estimated 250,000 people in the region displaced.

By Thursday, Gen Laurent Nkunda's troops had taken Nyanzale in North Kivu province, breaking a ceasefire he had declared. However, he says his men were attacked first.

Earlier, rebel forces entered Kiwanja, a town near the Ugandan border, after two days of fighting and ordered 35,000 people to leave while they fought the pro-government Mai-Mai militia.

Gen Nkunda's forces say they are trying to protect Tutsis from Hutu rebels who fled to DR Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

The UN mission, Monuc, is reinforcing its troops in North Kivu and has warned that they will fire on any armed group trying to enter the regional capital, Goma.

The UN refugee agency has said three camps for displaced people near the town Rutshuru have been destroyed, and that it is trying to establish the fate of about 50,000 people who had been there.

The most recent fighting has also prompted some aid workers to suspend their activities a day after bringing in the first food convoy to rebel-held territory.

Talks on the trouble in DR Congo take place on Friday in Kenya, with UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, President Joseph Kabila and his Rwandan counterpart due to attend.

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