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.

Rebels in eastern Congo's largest city, Goma, began a ceasefire on Tuesday and people rushed to bury some 2,000 victims of last week's battles for the city as they feared the spread of disease. The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who captured Goma declared a ceasefire on Monday and largely upheld it,

STORY: The morgues in Goma are overflowing, after Rwanda-backed rebels seized the biggest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week.Relative calm has now returned to the provincial capital after the rebel Congo River Alliance,

Clashes last week in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, which saw the M23 armed group and Rwandan forces seize control, have left at least 2,900 people dead, a United Nations official said Wednesday.

When M23 rebels swept into the Congolese city of Goma this week, world powers urged them to immediately withdraw. Instead, the Rwanda-backed insurgents are intent on showing they can restore order and govern.

United Nations agencies called for an end to the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as fighting between