The US has sanctioned a Rwandan government minister and a senior member of an armed group for their alleged involvement in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Rwanda-backed M23 militant group has overrun two major cities in recent weeks, causing a humanitarian crisis and sparking talk of a coup against President Felix Tshisekedi’s government in Kinshasa.

The US treasury department, announcing the financial sanctions, said Rwanda’s minister of state for regional integration James Kabarebe, a retired general, was targeted for orchestrating Rwandan support for M23. M23 itself has been under US sanctions since 2013 for alleged violations of international law including targeting children, killing and maiming civilians and sexual violence.

“In addition, Kabarebe manages much of Rwanda and M23’s generation of revenue from the DRC’s mineral resources. He has coordinated the export of extracted minerals from mining sites in the DRC for eventual export from Rwanda,” the Treasury said. Also targeted on Tuesday was Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, an M23 and Congo River Alliance senior member and spokesperson, and two companies he controls in the UK and France, the Treasury said. Rwanda rejects allegations from DRC, the UN and Western powers that it supports M23 with arms and troops. It says it is defending itself against the threat from a Hutu militia, which it says is fighting” with the Congolese military.

Sanctions are inappropriate; the international community should assist, not impede, ongoing regional efforts to reach a political solution,” Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told Reuters via text message. “If sanctions could resolve conflict in eastern DRC, we would have had peace in the region decades ago.” The Democratic Republic of the Congo applauded the US sanctions and expressed a desire for further similar actions. “This marks the beginning of a long series of sanctions that we want to be more robust from the UN Security Council, the European Union, and other partners in order to force Rwanda to withdraw its troops and cease its criminal activities on our soil,” government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said in a social media statement.