UN slaps sanctions on active warring groups in DR Congo’s escalating violence
The United Nations Security Council has sanctioned six people belonging to five active armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The sanction is in response to the violent clashes escalating in the region between the Congolese army and Rwandan-backed M23 Tutsi-led rebels.
The Security Council’s DRC sanctions committee imposed an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze on two leaders with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
Included to the U.N. list were the military spokesperson for the Rwandan-backed M23 Tutsi-led rebels and a leader with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
The fighting, in a war that has lasted decades, has increased the risk of an all-out conflict between Congo and Rwanda that could suck in neighbors and regional forces including South Africa, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi.
Commenting on the situation in the DRC, the Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said, “The United States firmly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC and lasting peace for all Congolese people. Rwanda and the DRC must walk back from the brink of war.”
The rebellion led by M23 has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in Congo’s North Kivu province in recent years, with heightened fighting near Goma, the largest city in the region.
