US Sanctions Rwanda’s Minister James Kabarebe for Central Role in DR Congo Conflict The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Integration James Kabarebe for the central role he plays in Rwanda’s support for the M23 rebels. It also sanctioned Lawrence Kanyuka, a leading member and spokesperson for the M23 and AFC rebel groups, and two of the companies he controls, Kingston Fresh and Kingston Holding. “The United States is sanctioning today two individuals and two entities linked to violence and human rights abuses in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This action includes designation of Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Integration James Kabarebe and the M23 and the Congo River Alliance spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, alongside two of Kanyuka’s companies, Kingston Fresh and Kingston Holding. “Since mid-December 2024, the Rwanda-backed armed group M23 has expanded its control through DRC territory, seizing...

Rwanda-Backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo | Enlarge The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday that Rwandan-backed M23 rebels committed summary executions of children in Bukavu when they entered the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city. “Our Office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week,” the Chief spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, Ravina Shamdasani, said in a statement in Geneva. “The situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is deteriorating sharply, resulting in serious human rights violations and abuses, such as summary executions, including of children, and conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. There have also been attacks on hospitals and humanitarian warehouses, as well as threats against the judiciary”, the statement said. “The Rwanda-backed M23 advance to South Kivu has plunged the region into a complex security and humanitarian crisis, provoking...