RWANDA’S government asserted solidarity today with a top official sanctioned by the US over violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured two major cities in an armed conflict that now threatens the Congolese government.

Rwanda’s government described the sanctions against General James Kabarebe, a deputy minister of foreign affairs, as “unjustified and unfounded.”

Responding to the sanctions, Rwanda’s government said in a statement that such action makes “no contribution toward long-term security, peace and stability for all the countries of the Great Lakes region.”