KINSHASA, Congo — Congo’s president says he is going to launch a unity government as violence spreads across the country’s east and pressure mounts over his handling of the crisis.

In some of his first statements since Rwandan-backed rebels captured major cities in eastern Congo, President Felix Tshisekedi told a meeting of the Sacred Union of the Nation ruling coalition on Saturday not to be distracted by internal quarrels.

“I lost the battle and not the war. I must reach out to everyone including the opposition. There will be a government of national unity,” said Tshisekedi. He didn’t give more details on what that would entail or when it would happen.

M23 rebels, the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control and influence in eastern Congo, have swept through the region seizing key cities, killing some 3,000 people. In a lightning three-week offensive, the M23 took control of eastern Congo’s main city Goma and seized the second largest city, Bukavu.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts.

— The Associated Press