The U.N. Security Council on March 29 unanimously approved an "offensive" peacekeeping brigade to fight rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first U.N. force of its kind, The News International reported.

Central African Republic President Francois Bozize fled Bangui as Seleka rebels seized control of the city March 24, Reuters reported.

Congolese soldiers have retaken the eastern towns of Rutshuru and Kiwanja after the M23 militant group abandoned them, Reuters reported March 2. A Congolese army officer told Reuters that the rebels had turned their guns on each other after an internal power struggle. Internal divisions have previously challenged M23, and the reports of infighting are the latest sign of fractionalization within the group.

Ugandan troops have been sent to the Uganda-Democratic Republic of the Congo border after fighting resumed between Mai Mai militia and M23 rebels near the border, New Vision reported Feb. 25.

Factions of the M23 rebel group clashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's northeastern Rutshuru region, leaving 10 people dead, a regional hospital source said Feb. 25, AFP reported.

Leaders from Africa's Great Lakes region signed a U.N.-mediated peace deal aimed at ending the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo Feb. 24 in Addis Ababa, Reuters reported.

Police in South Africa have arrested 19 suspected Congolese rebels, including two senior members of the M23 group, on suspicion the suspects were running an illegal military operation, police said Feb. 5, Reuters reported.

The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on M23, a rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Dec. 31, 2012, freezing assets of persons linked to the group and barring them from travel.

Truckloads of Rwandan soldiers have crossed the Congolese border and are camped within 20 miles of Goma, the strategic city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo recently occupied by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, aid organizations said, The New York Times reported Dec. 17.

The M23 rebels, after retreating from Goma, demanded negotiations with the Congolese government and will go to Uganda soon for talks, an M23 spokesman said Dec. 5, AP reported.