A summit of African leaders in Tanzania on Saturday directed army chiefs to meet within five days and "provide technical direction on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire" in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group is advancing.
The meeting, attended by leaders of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), also called for the opening of humanitarian corridors to evacuate the dead and injured.
The M23, which has rapidly seized territory in the mineral-rich eastern DRC, is reportedly closing in on the town of Kavumu in South Kivu, home to an airport crucial for supplying Congolese troops.
The summit comes amid concerns of a regional war, with several countries supporting the DRC militarily, including South Africa, Burundi, and Malawi.
The UN has reported that Rwanda has approximately 4,000 troops in the DRC and has profited from smuggling gold and coltan, a mineral vital for phones and laptops.
Rwanda accuses the DRC of sheltering the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
UN rights chief Volker Turk warned on Friday that "if nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come for the people of the eastern DRC but also beyond the country's borders".
Turk stated that nearly 3,000 people have been confirmed killed and 2,880 wounded since the M23 entered Goma on January 26, with final tolls likely to be much higher. He also mentioned his team is "currently verifying multiple allegations of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery".