Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service coming live from London.

This is Owen Bennett Jones.

Thirteen foreign peacekeepers have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

in fighting between the Congolese army and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels.

They are advancing on the city of Goma.

That's very close to the border with Rwanda, and it is significant.

Because even though M23 did actually briefly enter Goma around a decade or so ago,

they have never held as much territory as they do now.

And they're succeeding in part because of revenues they're deriving from taxing mining operations in places they control.

So the government seemed to be on the back foot.

And Emery Macomino is the BBC reporter in Kinshasa.

He joined me a short while ago just after going to a government

press conference. So, what was said there? The press conference is still ongoing as we speak.

Well, what they've said so far is that they paid tribute to Governor Peter Srimani,

the governor of Novkivu province, who was confirmed dead yesterday.

They say he was killed by a sniper.

He was with troops in the battlefield about 20 kilometers west of the capital city of the province, Goma.

That's briefly what has been said. The government

also says that they are documenting all these killings happening in the country so that they would

pursue Rwanda via international justice. Okay, so they're very much pinning everything on Rwanda

being responsible for the advance on Goma.

Is that right?

...