BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 26, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The EU on Friday added nine individuals and one rebel coalition to its sanctions list against armed groups stoking the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The move targets several commanders for a number of groups and the coalition called the Congo River Alliance, taking the total number of entries on the EU sanctions list for the DRC to 31.

They were accused of "acts that constitute serious human rights violations and abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and for sustaining the armed conflict, instability and insecurity in the Eastern DRC," in a statement from the Council of the European Union.

The listing of the Congo River Alliance -- commonly known by its French name "Alliance Fleuve Congo", or AFC -- came a day after the United States also hit that group with sanctions.

The AFC's main member is the March 23 Movement, or M23, an armed group active in the east of the Central African country.

The AFC's political leader, Corneille Nangaa Yobeluo, was one of the nine individuals sanctioned.

Others included two M23 leaders: its executive secretary Benjamin Mbonimpa, and Brigadier-General Justin Gacheri Musanga.

Also hit were the commander and deputy commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda - Forces Combattantes Abacunguzi (FDLR-FOCA), Gustave Kubwayo and Pierre Celestin Rurakabijem.

The M23 and FDLR-FOCA rebel groups were sustaining the conflict, the EU said. "In addition, they are responsible for serious human rights abuses, including killings, sexual violence and attacks on civilians, as well as child recruitment."

Amigo Kibirige, commander of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) -- an Islamist group that started in Uganda and spread to the DRC, known for an "extreme level of violence against civilians" -- was also on the list.

A commander and a spokesman for the CMC-FDP group that is part of the "volunteers for the defence of the homeland" that serves as auxiliaries to the DRC's military were also sanctioned.

Also hit by EU sanctions was a colonel in Rwanda's army, Augustin Migabo.
An experts' report commissioned by the UN Security Council said that 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers have been fighting alongside the M23 rebels and that Kigali had "de facto control" of the group's operations.

DR Congo's mineral-rich east has been racked for 30 years by fighting between both local and foreign-based armed groups, going back to regional wars of the 1990s.

The situation has calmed somewhat since a humanitarian truce between M23 rebels and government forces was announced last week.

Those on the EU sanctions list face a travel ban, the freezing of any assets under European jurisdiction, and a ban on EU citizens or companies making funds available to them.