Rwanda has accused the army in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo of deliberately firing into Rwandan territory. The accusation was made as Congolese forces battled M23 rebels outside the city of Goma in eastern Congo. The rebels have given the Congolese government 24 hours to open peace talks. Gabriel Gatehouse is in Goma.

A Rwandan official told the BBC that it was fired upon from inside Congolese territory. Around the middle of the afternoon, the streets of Goma echoed to the sounds of artillery or mortar fire apparently coming from the center of the city. There are also fresh clashes between rebel soldiers and Congolese forces just north of the airport. A senior rebel commander told the BBC early on Monday that he had not yet received orders to advance further, but added that his men were capable of taking the city if they decided to.

The United Nations has announced that it is withdrawing all non-essential staff from Goma.

Soldiers in Kenya have carried out beatings and set fire to homes in the town of Garissa after three of their colleagues were shot dead. The main market was also set ablaze. Garissa is an important base for the Kenyan military operation in neighboring Somalia. Previous attacks against troops in the town have been blamed on the Somali Islamist group, al-Shabab.

World News from the BBC

There has been a call for an international ban on the development of fully autonomous weapon systems or killer robots which could hunt down their targets without the need for a human operator. A report by Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School says military robots of this kind could become reality within 30 years. Stewart Hughes reports.