By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, March 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Thursday warned Rwandan rebel groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that it will expand sanctions against them if they refuse to disarm.

The council unanimously approved a resolution demanding that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda "and other Rwandan armed groups operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo immediately lay down their arms."

The French-drafted resolution also said the council "deplored" the human rights violations of the rebel groups and urged them to "immediately stop recruiting and using children, release all children associated with them, and put an end to gender-based violence, particularly rape."

French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said the resolution sent a strong signal to the rebels.

"We are threatening them with sanctions, if needed. We want them to disarm, to stop (illegal) activity, to join the process of peace in the eastern part of Congo," he said.

On Feb. 15 the Security Council renewed an arms embargo and asset freeze aimed at rebels in Congo for another six weeks, saying the situation in the mineral-rich Central African country "continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region."

The resolution says that in its upcoming review of the arms embargo, the council would consider "expanding their applicability" to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda or other Rwandan rebels.

Ripert said the 15-nation council supported peace talks inside the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as dialogue on peace and reconciliation between Congo and Rwanda.

Congolese President Joseph Kabila's government, Tutsi insurgents loyal to renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda and Mai Mai militia agreed a truce in January to end months of fighting and draw a line under a decade of violence in eastern Congo.

The United Nations and Western governments brokered the deal in the hope of getting a lasting peace in Congo's turbulent east, where rebel and militia violence has persisted long after the formal end of Congo's 1998-2003 war.

The council said the January peace deal and a November pact between Congo and Rwanda requiring Congo to disarm Rwandan Hutu rebels was "a major step towards the restoration of lasting peace and stability in the Great Lakes region".

The conflict has its roots in neighboring Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which Hutu militants slaughtered around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Nkunda says the rebellion he has led since 2004 seeks to protect eastern Congo's ethnic Tutsi minority against the Rwandan Hutu rebels he says are backed by Congo's government. (Editing by by Mohammad Zargham)

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