(Bloomberg) -- Democratic Republic of Congo’s supreme defense council called on the government to suspend all agreements with Rwanda, including economic pacts, as tensions continue to rise between the two countries over ongoing violence in mineral-rich eastern Congo.

President Felix Tshisekedi and the presidents of the two houses of parliament met with the council on Wednesday after M23 rebels took the eastern Congolese town of Bunagana along the Ugandan border. Congo says Rwanda backs the M23 and that its troops are participating in the rebellion.

In light of the fighting, the council said the government should “suspend all memorandums of understanding, agreements and conventions concluded with Rwanda,” according to a statement published on the Twitter feed of Congo’s media ministry Thursday. This includes all economic agreements, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said in a message Thursday.

Eastern Congo is an important source of minerals and other natural resources for its neighbors, including Rwanda, which has long been accused of benefitting from the rampant smuggling along the countries’ shared border.

Last year the two countries signed several cooperation agreements aimed at formalizing bilateral trade, including an accord between state-owned miner Sakima SA and Rwanda’s Dither Ltd. to develop gold and coltan resources in eastern Congo. The countries also share a methane gas resource beneath Lake Kivu.

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