The Democratic Republic of Congo is in turmoil - fighters from the notorious M23 rebel group have been surging through the country's east, battling the national army and capturing key places as they go.

Around 3,000 people have been killed in clashes between M23 rebels and government forces, and thousands more have been displaced after the worst escalation of fighting in more than a decade.

Leaders at an unprecedented joint summit of Eastern and Southern African blocs aimed at defusing the crisis in Eastern Congo urged all parties to hold direct talks, including with Rwanda-backed rebels whose advance has fanned fears of a wider war.

Their crisis talks in Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea come as the long-running war escalates.History will judge leaders in Africa who fail to end the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania warned her counterparts at the start of an emergency summit on the weekend.