Democratic Republic of Congo has formed a new advisory council that includes senior war crimes lawyers from the United States and Europe to support its push for accountability for atrocities committed in the country's conflict-ridden east.

The move comes as DR Congo's government pursues a campaign for international justice in connection with the fighting, a decades-old struggle involving dozens of armed groups and competition for mineral resources, in which millions are estimated to have died.

The conflict in eastern DR Congo is rooted in the fallout from neighbouring Rwanda's 1994 genocide. After the genocide, many perpetrators fled into eastern DR Congo, helping fuel cycles of violence that have persisted for decades.

Last month, Kinshasa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Rwanda of breaching international conventions on genocide, racial discrimination and torture. Rwanda denies the allegations.

Reparations for victims

At the UN General Assembly last year, President Felix Tshisekedi called for recognition of what he described as a "silent genocide" in DR Congo and urged the creation of an international commission of inquiry to help break a "cycle of impunity."

Fighting in eastern DR Congo intensified last year when the M23 rebel group seized large swathes of territory in eastern DR Congo.

The new advisory council, known as the Council for the Examination of Atrocities in the DRC, will advise two Congolese state institutions as they seek recognition of crimes and push for reparations for victims.