Tshisekedi calls for sanctions against Rwanda

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Friday claimed Rwanda had "expansionist ambitions" in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and called for Kigali to be subject to international sanctions.

"What's needed is to blacklist the real culprit of this situation: Rwanda," he said at the Munich Security Conference, as the M23 armed group, backed by Rwanda, pushed towards the South Kivu provincial capital, Bukavu.

Tshisekedi said conflict in the mineral-rich region over the last three decades had become a "battlefield for the predatory ambitions of some of our neighbours".

"We will no longer put up with our strategic resources being plundered for the benefit of foreign interests under the complicit gaze of those who feed on chaos," he added, criticising international inaction.

"We won't stand for simple words, we're demanding decisive action," he told the world's diplomatic elite.

Kinshasa accuses Kigali of wanting to steal the region's abundant natural resources, including rare earth minerals used in electronic batteries and other devices such as mobile telephones, as well as gold.

Rwanda denies the claim and maintains its national security is under threat from armed groups, in particular the FDLR, which was created by former Hutu leaders in the 1994 genocide against Tutsis.