(BSS/AFP) - Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has accused Rwanda`s Paul Kagame of seeking to annex the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for its vast natural resources, using the M23 militia.

With Rwanda`s help, the M23 has seized swathes of the eastern DRC since taking up arms again in 2021, compounding a humanitarian crisis and the more than three-decade conflict in the region.

The armed group`s lightning offensive saw it capture the key eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu, just over the border with Rwanda. It has set up an administration there parallel to the government in Kinshasa and taken control of nearby mines.

Tshisekedi, addressing members of the Congolese diaspora in Cairo on Saturday, accused Rwanda of "bellicose and hegemonic" intentions in the DRC.

Kagame`s goal "is to divide our country and occupy, or even annex, the eastern part, which is very rich in mineral and agricultural resources", he said, according to a statement from the Congolese leader`s office on X.

He also blamed Kagame`s failure to attend for the failure of the previous round of truce talks, brokered by Angola.

Since then the DRC and Rwanda have signed a US-brokered deal aimed at ending the conflict, while Kinshasa inked a separate agreement with the M23 for a permanent ceasefire.

But those efforts, pushed for by the United States and mediated by Qatar, have yet to stop violence on the ground in the east.

The eastern part of DR Congo is replete with vast deposits of key minerals, including gold and coltan.

It has been torn apart by three decades of fighting between various armed groups and ethnic militias, with foreign powers sometimes getting involved.

Rwanda, while denying any military support for the M23, argues that it faces an existential security threat from fighters present in the eastern DRC linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.