In the heart of Kinshasa, the frenzied capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, classical music has found an unlikely band of heroes.

When Babatunde Osotimehin last year became the head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- the international development agency promoting female rights -- the news didn't go down too well with many women working in the field.

The relative calm of the early morning was shattered Tuesday in Goma, the chief city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, when heavy fighting resumed between rebel groups and the Congolese army, witnesses said.