Sawt Falasteen - M23 shuns DR Congo peace talks at 11th hour after sanctions

But Kinshasa said it would participate despite the M23's announced no-show.

Tina Salama, the spokeswoman for DRC President Felix Tshisekedi told AFP: "The Congolese delegation has left Kinshasa for Luanda. We will respond the invitation for mediation" by Angola.

The M23, which has taken vast swathes of the DRC's mineral-rich east, on Monday accused "certain international institutions" of "deliberately sabotaging peace efforts", referring notably to sanctions imposed by the European Union on some of its members.

"The successive sanctions imposed on our members, including those adopted on the eve of the discussions in Luanda seriously compromise direct dialogue and prevent any advance," it said.

The group also denounced Kinshasa's "bellicose campaign" and added that "under these conditions, the holding of talks has become impossible. As a result, our organisation will not be able to take part in the discussions".

The European Union sanctioned on Monday three Rwandan military commanders and its mining agency chief over their support for armed fighters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as well as senior members of the M23, including its head, Bertrand Bisimwa.

It also targeted the CEO of state-run Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board "for exploiting the armed conflict" and a gold refinery based in Kigali.

The peace talks were scheduled to start on Tuesday in Luanda, as Angolan President Joao Lourenco has been appointed by the African Union to mediate in the conflict.

Numerous calls from the international community for a ceasefire have fallen on deaf ears.

- Prior no-shows -

Since January, the M23 -- which claims to defend the interests of Congolese Tutsis -- has seized the key cities of Goma and Bukavu in a lightning advance that has killed more than 7,000 people, according to the DRC.

AFP has not been able to verify the figure independently.

A report by United Nations expoerts has said Kigali effectively controls the M23 and has around 4,000 troops backing it in order to exploit the region's valuable minerals such as gold and coltan.

Rwanda denies providing the M23 with military assistance but says it faces a threat from the FDLR group, founded by ethnic Hutu leaders involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis, in the DRC's east.

Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame were supposed to meet in Luanda in mid-December for direct talks but they could not agree on the terms and the summit was called off at the last minute.

The last time the Congolese government and the M23 held talks was in 2013.

The armed group had captured Goma in 2012 but was militarily defeated the following year by Congolese armed forces supported by UN peacekeepers.

X.Habash--SF-PST