Nearly 3,000 people were killed over the last week as rebels captured a key city in one of the deadliest battles in the Central African country in decades.

The Democratic Republic of Congo will present a motion to the United Nations Human Rights Council seeking an investigation into what it called "mass violations" of rights in the city of Goma, its envoy told reporters on Thursday.

Fighting has escalated sharply in recent weeks in eastern Congo, where rebels have seized key towns and are closing in on the city of Goma, the government’s last stronghold in the North Kivu province,