The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday levied sanctions against five leaders of a Rwandan Hutu insurgency group in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"These individuals bear heavy responsibility for the instability and enduring conflict in the eastern DRC," said Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The move bans Americans from dealing with the five blacklisted men and freezes any assets they have under U.S. jurisdiction, the Treasury said.

The five are Sylvestre Mudacumura, Callixte Mbarushimana, Pacifique Ntawunguka, Leopold Mujyambere, and Stanislas Nzeyimana, all of whom the Treasury identified as military or political leaders of the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR).

FDLR has been blamed as the root cause of instability in the eastern DRC and its activities pose a grave threat to the entire Great Lakes region, the Treasury said.

"We are taking action in concert with the U.N. Security Council to disrupt their activities and to stem the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Szubin said.

On March 3, the United Nations added Mbarushimana, Ntawunguka, Mujyambere and Nzeyimana to the Security Council's Consolidated Travel Ban and Assets Freeze list. Mudacumura previously had been listed.

Reuters