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.

A man stands in front of a gas station office that was hit by light and heavy weapons during the fighting in the town that led to the fall of Goma to the M23 rebels, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,

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 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged “all those with influence” to move quickly to end the deadly violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and stop it from exploding into a regional war.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday that the worst could be ahead in the escalating crisis in eastern Congo, saying he expected sexual violence including incidents of rape and sexual slavery to increase.

Worse violence "may be yet to come" in the conflict-hit Democratic Republic of Congo, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Friday. An offensive by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group against Congolese forces in and around the eastern city of Goma has left almost 3,