GOMA, Congo – Pressing ahead with their seizure of cities in mineral-rich eastern Congo, the M23 rebels said Wednesday they are fighting to control all of this sprawling country and to topple President Joseph Kabila’s government.

Following their capture of the strategic city of Goma a day earlier, the rebels took the nearby town of Sake on Wednesday as they moved toward the provincial capital of Bukavu.

“Kabila has to go. We want our country back,” said M23 Col. Vianney Kazarama to cheers from thousands gathered at the Goma stadium. “We are now going to Kinshasa. No one will divide this country.”

Nearly 3,000 Congolese army soldiers and police defected to the rebels in Goma on Wednesday and turned in their weapons at the stadium rally.

Even as the M23 rebels consolidated their gains, the presidents of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda called on them to give up the territory they now control.

The M23 is made up of hundreds of officers who deserted the Congo army in April. Neighboring Rwanda has supplied soldiers and equipped the rebels with sophisticated arms, including night vision goggles and 120 mm mortars, according to a report by United Nations experts to be published Friday.

The U.N. report accuses the rebels of grave human rights abuses, including murder, rape and the use of child soldiers.

The M23 is largely made up of ethnic Tutsis who want to extend their control over eastern Congo and its valuable deposits of gold, copper, coltan and timber. Their campaign, and alleged support from Rwanda, has its roots in the 1994 genocide in which some 800,000 Tutsis were massacred by Hutus.

Since then, conflicts in eastern Congo have killed millions.