EU to impose sanctions over M23 offensive in DR Congo - Africa
The EU is set to impose sanctions on around 10 individuals over the offensive by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group in Democratic Republic of Congo, diplomats said Friday.
M23 forces have seized large swathes of the mineral-rich eastern DRC -- including the main cities of Goma and Bukavu -- in the face of limited resistance from Congolese forces.
Diplomats did not specify if the sanctions -- set to be formally imposed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers Monday -- will include Rwandan officials accused of fuelling the fighting.
United Nations experts have said Rwanda effectively controls the M23 and has at least 4,000 troops fighting alongside the group.
But Kigali has denied involvement in the conflict and says it faces a threat from ethnic Hutu fighters in the DRC.
Belgium has been spearheading the push to punish Rwanda over the violence, which includes calls to block a minerals deal, or suspend development aid and support for Kigali's peacekeepers in Mozambique.
The fighting in recent weeks has raised fears of a repeat of the Second Congo War, from 1998 to 2003, which drew in multiple African countries and resulted in millions of deaths from violence, disease and starvation.
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