The Rwanda-backed M23 is closing on the town of Kavumu in South Kivu in an offensive that has left thousands dead and displaced large numbers.

A summit of African leaders to address the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has directed army chiefs to meet within five days and “provide technical direction on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire”.

The meeting, which came to a close in Tanzania on Saturday, brought together the leaders of the eight-nation East African Community (EAC) and 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC).

It also called for an opening of humanitarian corridors to evacuate the dead and injured.

The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has rapidly seized swaths of territory in the mineral-rich eastern DRC in an offensive that has left thousands dead and displaced vast numbers. Rwanda denies military support for the M23.

The group took the strategic city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province, last week and is pushing into neighbouring South Kivu in the latest episode of decades-long turmoil in the region.

The summit came amid reports on Saturday that the M23 was closing on the town of Kavumu in South Kivu, which hosts an airport critical to supplying Congolese troops.

“We call on all parties to actualise the ceasefire, and specifically on the M23 to halt further advancement and the armed forces of DRC to cease all retaliatory measures,” said Kenya President William Ruto, the current chair of the EAC, in opening remarks.

Since the M23 re-emerged in 2021, peace talks hosted by both Angola and Kenya have failed, and multiple ceasefires have collapsed. The offensive has raised fears of regional war, given that several countries are engaged in supporting DRC militarily, including South Africa, Burundi and Malawi.

A United Nations report said last year Rwanda had approximately 4,000 troops in DRC and profited from smuggling out of the country vast amounts of gold and coltan, a mineral vital for phones and laptops.

Rwanda accuses the DRC of sheltering the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

UN rights chief Volker Turk warned on Friday that “if nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come for the people of the eastern DRC but also beyond the country’s borders”.

Turk said nearly 3,000 people had been confirmed killed and 2,880 wounded since M23 entered Goma on January 26, and that final tolls were likely to be much higher.

He also said his team was “currently verifying multiple allegations of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery”.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies