The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on leaders of armed groups operating in eastern Congo including Rwandan-backed AFC/M23 rebels and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which fights alongside the Congolese army, Reuters reported.
The conflict in eastern Congo is rooted in the fallout from neighbouring Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
Fighting in eastern Congo intensified last year when the AFC/M23 rebel group, which the United Nations and Western governments say is backed by Rwanda, seized large swathes of eastern Congo.
Rwanda denies backing the rebels.
The U.N. Security Council said on Thursday a committee that oversees an arms embargo on Democratic Republic of the Congo added six individuals and two entities to its sanctions list.
Among them were Corneille Nangaa, leader of the AFC rebel alliance that also includes M23, John Imani Nzenze, M23 chief of intelligence, and Gustave Kubwayo, an FDLR commander.
Nzenze and Kubwayo were sanctioned last month by the United States which accused them of driving the conflict in the east despite mediation efforts by Washington.
U.N. sanctions include an arms embargo, a travel ban and an assets freeze.
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