STORY: The leader of the alliance that includes the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels dismissed calls for an immediate ceasefire on Thursday as his forces pushed deeper into Congolese territory. :: Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame had called on Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire after a surprise meeting in Qatar's capital Doha.

Rwanda-backed rebels battling Congo’s army have pushed into a strategic, mineral-rich town in the east, ignoring calls for a ceasefire this week by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents as the M23 rebel group expands its footprint in the conflict-torn African country.

The leader of a rebel alliance that has seized swathes of east Congo told Reuters on Thursday that insurgents were not bound by a ceasefire call from Congo and Rwanda's presidents and cast any minerals-for-security deal with the U.