UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rwanda - along with Australia and Argentina - won a seat on the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, despite accusations by a U.N. expert panel that the Rwandan defence minister is commanding a rebellion in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwanda was unopposed in its bid for the African seat on the council that South Africa will vacate at the end of December, but still needed approval from two-thirds of the U.N. General Assembly members present to secure the two-year term. It won 148 votes.

Argentina also was elected to the council unopposed, winning 182 votes in the 193-nation assembly. Australia won a seat as well with 140 votes. At least one further round of voting was taking place to decide the remaining two seats up for grabs.

Cambodia, Bhutan and South Korea are competing for one Asia-Pacific seat. With Australia's victory secured, Finland and Luxembourg are up for the other remaining seat available in the "Western European and Others" group.

A confidential U.N. report, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, cast a shadow over Rwanda's election to the 15-member U.N. powerhouse - which has the ability to impose sanctions and authorize military interventions.

There are five veto-holding permanent members of the council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - and 10 temporary members without vetoes. Thursday's election was for the term from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2014.

Before the vote, the Congo's delegation told the General Assembly it objected to Rwanda joining the Security Council, accusing its neighbour of harbouring "war criminals operating in the eastern part of the DRC and who are being sought by international justice."

The Security Council's "Group of Experts" said that Rwanda and Uganda - despite their strong denials - continued to support M23 rebels in their six-month fight against Congolese government troops in the east of the country.

COUNCIL COMPLICATIONS

Rwandan U.N. diplomat Olivier Nduhungirehe said on Wednesday that Rwanda was not worried about the report's impact on its Security Council bid.

"The members of the General Assembly know exactly what our record is and they cannot be deterred or swayed by a baseless report, which has no credibility," Nduhungirehe said.

"We are the sixth (biggest) troop-contributing country for peacekeeping, we are a leading country in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, we have a record in post-conflict reconstruction and peace building," he said.

In addition to South Africa, four countries - Colombia, Germany, India and Portugal - are leaving the Security Council in December. Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Pakistan, Togo and Morocco will remain on the council until the end of 2013.

The last time Rwanda was on the council was in 1994-95. That coincided with a genocide in which 800,000 people were killed when Rwanda's Hutu-led government and ethnic militias went on a 100-day killing spree, massacring Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

A senior Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity that he hoped Rwanda's presence on the council would have a "positive effect" on the body's handling of Congo, although he acknowledged it was possible the opposite would be the case.

He said getting unanimity among the 15 council members on Congo's rebellion might be difficult with Rwanda in the room.

The Congolese government on Wednesday demanded targeted sanctions against Rwandan and Ugandan officials named in the U.N. experts report.

According to the U.N. experts, who monitor compliance with sanctions and an arms embargo on the Congo, Rwandan Defence Minister General James Kabarebe was ultimately commanding the rebellion and both Rwanda and Uganda were providing weapons, troops and military and political aid to the insurgency.

(Editing by Paul Simao)

• Malaysia tycoon Vincent Tan plans IPO of football club Cardiff City
• Google, like Facebook, in talks to buy Waze for about US$1bil
• Crown selling entire 10% in rival Echo, partly owned by Genting(Update)
• First edition of 'Great Gatsby' to be sold at auction, can fetch US$150,000
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Markets face rough summer ride as Fed pullback feared
• Wall Street sags, HP hits 52-week high
• Commodities trader sues BP, Shell others for alleged oil price fixing
• Billionaire Icahn seeks up to US$7bil for Dell bid
• Google faces new federal antitrust probe
• Goldman Sachs unveils checks on conflicts in bid to fix tarnished image
• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Maybank bullish on growth, to expand regionally under new leadership
• Khazanah appoints Nor Mohamed deputy chairman
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August

• 5,000 cave paintings discovered in Mexico
• Cars, schools ablaze in fifth night of Stockholm riots
• London's Heathrow airport closed after emergency landing
• Far East quake felt in Moscow, tsunami warning lifted
• Police make new arrests in London soldier killing
• Britain's press demands jailing of Islamist preacher
• Tsunami warning in Russia's Far East after 8.2 quake
• US bridge collapse sends cars, people into river
• Strong quake strikes off Tonga
• Jury fails to decide on US murderer death sentence
• One killed in Brazil giant fuel depot blaze

• Kingston leads, McIlroy in Wentworth woe
• LPGA plans 12-hole rounds in water-logged Bahamas
• Ryan Palmer sizzles with 62 to seize lead at Colonial
• Kelly overcomes scare to clinch title in KLGCC
• Time to make amends Garcia wants to meet Woods to defuse racist row
• American Johnson back to defend Colonial crown
• Rain dampens debut of LPGA Bahamas event
• Tianlang adds another US event to schedule
• Clock ticking for next golden generation
• Nadal wants to create history at Roland Garros
• Serena out to tame French Open demons
• Zheng Jie stuns Wozniacki in Brussels
• British Open: Ramy Ashour racks up 38th successive win
• Nicol David sails into quarter-finals of British Open in 35 minutes
• BAM must stop rewarding mediocrity or be doomed

• Please wait.

• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Singapore GDP growth surprises, beats economists’ forecast of contraction
• KL car number plates to bear ‘W1A’
• Tian, Tamrin and Haris released after remand denied (updated)
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Inventions a-plenty, but no real innovation
• Robber shot dead after attacking out-of-uniform cop with meat cleaver
• Three held over May 13 statements
• Fernandes does his first firing in Apprentice Asia
• Wall Street sags, HP hits 52-week high