NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22, (AP): Rwanda's government on Friday asserted solidarity with a top official sanctioned by the U.S. over violence in eastern Congo, where Rwanda-backed rebels have captured two major cities in an armed conflict that now threatens the Congolese government. Rwanda’s government described the sanctions against Gen 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.” Securing the border with Congo is "a matter of national security, and that is our only driver,” it said. Sanctions against Kabarebe are a blow to Rwanda, which for years has evaded the international community's punishment over its aggression in neighboring Congo.

The first sign of Washington's evolving policy toward Rwanda came last year when the USdescribed M23 as a Rwanda-backed group and asked Rwandan authorities to remove their missile systems from Congolese territory. The sanctions announced Thursday finger Rwanda as the primary force behind M23, whose fighters now say they want to overthrow Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi.

The US State Department statement said Kabarebe, who is officially the minister of state in charge of regional integration, is the Rwandan official who liaises with M23 in handling revenue from exports of minerals from Congo. Kabarebe was sanctioned along with Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, a spokesman for M23. Two companies linked to Kanyuka and registered in the United Kingdom and France were also sanctioned.

The US and the UN sanctioned M23 years ago. M23's "aggression has undermined the territorial integrity of (Congo),” the U.S. State Department statement said. "With Rwanda’s support, it has also threatened, injured, killed, and displaced thousands of innocent civilians, cost the lives of three U.N. peacekeepers and wounded several others.” Kabarebe is revered in Rwanda and reviled in Congo.

His current role in government came after he retired from the Rwandan military, which he once served as chief of defense staff. He is also a former minister of defense and a close ally of President Paul Kagame. He was among those by Kagame's side when his rebels entered Kigali, the Rwandan capital, to end the 1994 genocide by the Hutu majority against the Tutsi.