Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed “a vigorous and coordinated response” against a rebel alliance that has besieged swaths of the nation’s mineral-rich east and forced hundreds of local troops and foreign mercenaries to surrender.

The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, declared a strong response from the Congolese army to the ongoing attacks by M23 rebels. In a televised address on Wednesday evening,

The weeks-long march of the M23 armed group has prompted calls for crisis talks, as well as rising international criticism and warnings of a looming humanitarian crisis.