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KIGALI: The EU sanctioned nine people and a gold refinery on Monday in connection with a Rwanda-backed rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a day before peace talks scheduled in Angola between M23 rebels and the Congolese government.

The sanctions targeted M23 political leader Bertrand Bisimwa and Rwandan army commanders. 

They were also applied to the CEO of Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board, and Gasabo Gold Refinery in Kigali, which the EU accused of illicitly exporting natural resources from Congo.

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, a rebel alliance that includes M23 confirmed it would send a five-member delegation to Tuesday’s talks in Luanda, which could mark M23’s first direct negotiations with the Congolese government.

Congo President Felix Tshisekedi’s office said on Sunday that Kinshasa would send representatives to Luanda, reversing the government’s long-standing vow not to negotiate with the group, which it has dismissed as a mere front for the Rwandan government.

Pressure has been growing on Tshisekedi to negotiate with M23 after a series of battlefield setbacks since January. 

The rebels have seized eastern Congo’s two biggest cities and several smaller localities.

The fighting has killed at least 7,000 people this year, according to the Congolese government, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

The conflict is rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources, many of which are used in batteries used for electric vehicles and other electronic products.

The UN and international powers accuse Rwanda of providing arms and sending soldiers to fight with the ethnic Tutsi-led M23. 

Rwanda says its forces are acting in self-defense against Congo’s army and militias that are hostile to Kigali.

A Rwandan government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the EU sanctions.

Western countries have taken measures against Rwanda over the conflict, including the withholding of development aid by Britain and Germany, but Kigali has been defiant.

On Monday, it announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Belgium, the former colonial power in Rwanda and Congo, and giving Belgian diplomats 48 hours to leave.

Rwanda’s Foreign Ministry accused Belgium, which has called for strong EU action against Kigali, of “using lies and manipulation to secure an unjustified hostile opinion of Rwanda.”

Belgium’s Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Prevot said Brussels would reciprocate by declaring Rwandan diplomats persona non grata, calling Kigali’s move “disproportionate.”

Previous rounds of EU sanctions have targeted M23 commanders and Rwandan army officers.

Zobel Behalal, a senior expert at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, said the latest sanctions were notable in going after Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board, and the Gasabo Gold Refinery.

“The EU sanctions ... are a recognition that profits from natural resources are one of the main motivations for Rwanda’s involvement in this conflict,” said Behalal.

The mines board and the gold refinery did not immediately respond to requests for comment.