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 over the weekend.

As the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo reaches a critical juncture, pressure is mounting on the African Union Peace and Security Council to take decisive action when government leaders attend the 38th Summit of Heads of State and Government meeting on February 14.

Leaders from east and southern Africa call on all warring parties - including the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels - to meet within five days.

Leaders of Eastern and Southern African regional blocs met for an unprecedented joint summit on Saturday to find a solution to a conflict in eastern Congo, where Rwandan-backed rebels’ rapid advance since January has fanned fears of a wider war.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged dialogue between warring parties in eastern Congo on Saturday at an African Union summit, hours after Rwanda-backed M23 entered the northern suburbs of the provincial capital Bukavu.

The escalating conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo will dominate an African Union summit opening Saturday, with the DRC president absent after Rwandan-backed forces seized a second major city on

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday demanded the Democratic Republic of Congo's "territorial integrity" be respected and a regional war avoided, at an African summit the day after Rwandan-backed fighters seized a second DRC provincial capital.