The United States on Thursday said it was imposing sanctions on a Rwandan government minister and a senior member of an armed group for their alleged role in the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Rwanda-backed M23 militant group has overrun eastern DR Congo’s two major cities in recent weeks, deepening a dire humanitarian crisis and sparking open talk of a coup against President Felix Tshisekedi’s government in Kinshasa.
“This aggression has undermined the territorial integrity of the DRC,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement, warning that Rwanda should end its support for M23 and return to Angola led negotiations.
“This violence risks escalating into a broader regional conflict,” Bruce added.
The U.S. Treasury Department, announcing the financial sanctions, said Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Integration James Kabarebe, a retired general, was targeted for orchestrating Rwandan support for M23.
M23 itself has been under U.S. sanctions since 2013 for alleged violations of international law and killings.
“In addition, Kabarebe manages much of Rwanda and M23’s generation of revenue from the DRC’s mineral resources. He has coordinated the export of extracted minerals from mining sites in the DRC for eventual export from Rwanda,” the Treasury said.
Also targeted on Tuesday was Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, an M23 and Congo River8 Alliance senior member and spokesperson, and two companies he controls in Britain and France, the Treasury said.
Rwanda rejects the accusations by DR Congo, the United Nations, and Western powers that it supports M23 with arms and troops. It says it is defending itself against the threat from FDLR Hutu militia, which it claims is fighting with the Congolese military, having fled Rwanda to DR Congo in 1994 after committing genocide against the Tutsi.
The DR Congo government asserts that 1994 is such a long time for any militant to have the strength to fight and that Rwanda makes the claim to justify their support for instability to steal minerals. Kinshasa argues that those who fled are old men aged 70 and 80, others are dead.