The United States has imposed sanctions on an armed group accused of illegally controlling a key mining site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as tensions continue to rise in the conflict-hit eastern region.
The US Department of the Treasury announced on Monday that it is freezing assets and restricting transactions linked to Pareco-FF, a rebel faction that controlled the Rubaya coltan mine between 2022 and 2024. The group has reportedly opposed the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, who now control the site.
Rubaya is one of the world’s most significant sources of coltan, a mineral critical for the production of electronic devices such as smartphones and laptops. The site is believed to contribute 15 to 30 percent of the global coltan supply.
The sanctions come as both the Congolese army and M23 rebels accuse each other of violating a US-brokered ceasefire, with fresh fighting reported in recent days.
While many fighters from the original Pareco rebel group were integrated into the DRC military in 2009, Pareco-FF emerged in 2022 as M23 made territorial gains in North Kivu Province.
The M23 group is already under existing US sanctions.
