US targets DRC armed group as ceasefire under strain

_______________

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on an armed group in the Democratic Republic of Congo accused of illicit mining and two Chinese companies, as a US-brokered ceasefire comes under strain.

The United States said it was blocking all interests and restricting transactions with Pareco-FF, an armed group that has opposed the Rwandan-backed M23, which made rapid gains in the eastern DRC earlier this year.

It also slapped sanctions on a Congolese mining company and two Hong Kong-based export companies accused of buying minerals from the armed group.

Pareco-FF had been a key player in Rubaya, where a mine produces 15 to 30 percent of the world's supply of coltan, a key mineral used in electronics such as laptops and mobile telephones.

"The United States is sending a clear message that no armed group or commercial entity is immune from sanctions if they undermine peace, stability or security in the DRC," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

The sanctions came as the Congolese army accused M23 militants of multiple attacks on its positions despite a US-brokered ceasefire that had been hailed by President Donald Trump.

Trump hosted the DRC and Rwandan foreign ministers at the White House in June.

A senior US official acknowledged difficulties but downplayed concern over the survival of the ceasefire.

"We are concerned anytime there is violence in the eastern DRC. No party has control over all of the actors, and there are an awful lot of armed groups that are there," the official told reporters on customary condition of anonymity.

But he added: "We have not seen M23 take any additional territory in probably about three months now, since we really began these talks in earnest."

Many Pareco guerrillas integrated into the DRC military in 2009, but Pareco-FF emerged in 2022 in response to the M23 gains.