The rebels said the ceasefire would start Tuesday. The announcement came shortly after the U.N. said 900 people were killed in last week’s fighting in Goma between rebels and Congolese forces.

Rwandan-backed armed group M23 announced a humanitarian "ceasefire" from Tuesday in DR Congo's perennially explosive east, days before a planned crisis meeting between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

United Nations agencies called for an end to the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as fighting between

Rwandan-backed armed group M23 announced a humanitarian “ceasefire” from Tuesday in DR Congo’s explosive east, days before a planned crisis meeting between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Fighting with M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo left six United Nations peacekeepers dead, UN officials said Saturday.

The Rwanda-backed rebels who seized a major city in eastern Congo have declared a unilateral ceasefire, citing humanitarian grounds. But, there was no sign of them giving up control of Goma at the heart of a region home to trillions of dollars in mineral wealth.

M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo said they would begin a unilateral ceasefire on Tuesday as the Group of Seven nations demanded that the Rwanda-backed militia halt an offensive that has shaken the eastern part of the country.