Explainer-Why fighting is flaring in eastern Congo and threatening regional stability

Activists gesture as they march during a demonstration calling for an end to the fighting between the M23 rebels and the Congolese army and denouncing the international community's silence on the conflicts in Goma, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Violent clashes have escalated between Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s army and Rwandan-backed M23 Tutsi-led rebels in eastern Congo, killing scores and displacing hundreds of thousands.

The fighting, in a war that has lasted decades, has increased the risk of an all-out conflict between Congo and Rwanda that could suck in neighbours and regional forces including South Africa, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi.