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EU sanctions nine people over Congo violence

M23 rebel leader Bisimwa Bertrand

M23 rebel leader Bisimwa Bertrand speaks to the media in Bunagana August 2, 2013. 

Photo credit: File | Reuters
WhatsApp Image 2025-04-22 at 07.39.48 (1)

By  Reuters  &  Nation Reporter

EU countries on Monday sanctioned nine individuals in connection with violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a publication in the official EU Journal showed.

Among those on the list are commanders of the Rwanda Defence Force, the leader of the M23 rebel group, Bertrand Bisimwa, and Col John Musanga Bahati, the governor of North Kivu.

The full list is below:

Related

  1. Betrand Bisimwa - M23 Commander
  2. Jean-Bosco Mupenzi - Finance chief of M23
  3. John Imani Nzenze - Intel chief if M23
  4. Désire Rukomera - Rwandan, head of M23 recruitment 
  5. Col John Musanga Bahati- Governor of North Kivu
  6. Maj-Gen Ruki Karusisi- Former Special Forces Commander of Rwanda Defence Forces
  7. Maj-Gen Eugene Nkubito- Commander of 3rd Division of Rwanda Defence Forces
  8. Brig-Gen Pascal Muhizi-Commander of 2nd Division, Rwanda Defence Forces
  9. Francis Kamanzi - CEO of Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board

Also sanctioned is Gasabo Gold Refinery, a Rwandan firm based in Kigali. 

Rebels of the M23 group have seized east Congo’s two biggest cities since January in an escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.

Rwanda is accused of backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebels, a charge it denies.