Rwanda is illegally occupying the Democratic Republic of Congo and attempting to orchestrate regime change, the country's foreign minister has told the BBC. Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said this followed decades of impunity and failure to hold Rwandan President Paul Kagame accountable for violating international law.

The Rwandan-backed armed group M23 moved south as it closed in on a key military airport in DR Congo on Friday, a day after pledging to take the capital Kinshasa and as international criticism mounted.

France's foreign minister was due in Rwanda on Thursday after talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of efforts to prevent a regional escalation following the capture of the eastern Congolese city of Goma by M23 rebels and Rwandan troops.