Rebels holding the town of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo ignored a deadline to withdraw. Source: AAP
REBELS in the Democratic Republic of Congo have ignored a deadline to leave the key eastern city of Goma, defiantly patrolling its streets despite threats to dislodge them.
The M23 rebels, army mutineers whose campaign has sown fears of wider conflict in the chronically unstable region rich in minerals, were still out in force in Goma early on Tuesday.
Regional leaders had told rebels to pull out by Monday night and the DR Congo's army chief, General Francois Olenga, had threatened to remove them by force.
"We are holding our positions, we are waiting," Olenga, who had travelled to within 20 kilometres of rebel positions in the east to inspect his troops, told AFP on Tuesday.
At a summit Saturday in Uganda's capital Kampala, regional heads of state gave the rebels 48 hours to withdraw to at least 20 kilometres outside Goma, and also called on the DR Congo government to take steps to resolve the rebels' "legitimate grievances".
But the rebels have refused to withdraw before holding direct talks with the government, which has in turn refused to negotiate without a withdrawal.
The M23 was founded by former fighters in an ethnic-Tutsi rebel group whose members were integrated into the regular army under a 2009 peace deal they claim was never fully implemented.
They mutinied in April and seized Goma last week in a rapid advance that the army proved unable to stop despite getting backing from United Nations peacekeepers who deployed attack helicopters in a bid to hold back the M23.
The United Nations last week issued a damning report accusing Rwanda, and to a lesser extent Uganda, of backing the rebels, who it says have murdered, raped and kidnapped civilians in their sweep across the east.
Both countries deny the allegations.
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