BUKAVU, Congo — Rwanda-backed rebels tightened their grip on Bukavu on Monday, a day after seizing the second major city in eastern Congo whose residents appeared resigned to their fate under the new rulers.

On Sunday, M23 rebels captured the city of 1.3 million people after it was abandoned by Congolese forces. Bukavu lies 63 miles south of Goma, which was captured by the rebels in late January.

The M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that’s critical for much of the world’s technology. The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts. The decades-long fighting has displaced more than 6 million people in the region, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

As the rebels made their way into Bukavu, its streets were flooded by residents attempting to leave and looters filling flour sacks with what they could find. A pall of silence set in later as residents and business owners braced for M23’s entrance into the city center.

– The Associated Press