13 soldiers working with the peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed during the fighting by the rebel group M23.
The South African military said nine of its soldiers died helping to push back rebels in the city of Goma, in eastern DR Congo, while three from Malawi and one from Uruguay were also killed.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke with the leaders of DR Congo and Rwanda amid international calls for an end to the violence.
The United Nations is evacuating all non-essential personnel from Goma – a city of more than a million people – as fighting intensifies.
A UN Security Council meeting on the deadly conflict, which was due to take place on Monday, has been postponed to Sunday due to the intense conflict.
The M23 group has asked Congolese soldiers in Goma to surrender to avoid bloodshed. While DR Congo has severed diplomatic ties with neighboring Rwanda, it accuses the country of being the instigator of the insurgency.
The move comes after M23 militants killed a Congolese military governor who was visiting the border on Thursday. In early January, they captured the important cities of eastern Congo, Minova and Masisi.
Macron called for an end to the fighting in separate phone calls with the leaders of DR Congo and Rwanda on Saturday, his office said.
EU chief Kaja Kallas urged M23 to halt its progress and criticized Rwanda’s support for the group, AFP news agency reported.
Another criticism came from the President of Angola, Joao Lourenco, who is the mediator of the African Union between Rwanda and DR Congo, who criticized the “disrespectful actions of M23 and its followers” and said that the fighting should be “immediately stopped” in order to save people’s lives, according to AFP. news agency.
Fighting between the M23 and DR Congo has intensified since the start of the year, with the rebels taking more territory than ever before.
The conflict has forced more than 400,000 people to flee their homes this year, according to the UN.
Local leaders last week said that more than 200 civilians were killed in the areas taken by the M23 road, Goma hospitals treated hundreds of patients.
Martin Gordon, the Anglican bishop in Goma, told the BBC that fighting in the country has been going on for “a very long time” and people will “do anything for peace”.
In the past few days, several countries have urged their citizens to leave Goma, including the UK, France, Germany and the US.
More than a million people live in Goma, a city near the border of DR Congo and Rwanda [Reuters]
Human Rights Watch has warned of increasing risks to civilians as the Congolese army battles the M23 rebels. Humanitarian organizations have accused both sides of abusing civilians.
The UN has warned that the ongoing conflict is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region.
M23 has controlled most of the mineral-rich areas in eastern DR Congo since 2021. Hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless as a result.
DR Congo and the UN say M23 is supported by Rwanda. Rwandan authorities have neither confirmed nor denied this.
Rwanda has previously said that DR Congo authorities were collaborating with some of those involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of Tutsi and Hutu moderates.
M23 was formed as an offshoot of another rebel group in 2012, which was seen as protecting the Tutsi in eastern DR Congo, who had long complained of persecution and discrimination.
However, Rwandan critics suspect that M23 is being used to loot minerals in eastern DR Congo such as gold, cobalt and tantalum.
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