The News
US President Donald Trump’s administration issued a notable rebuke of the Rwandan government, imposing sanctions on the country’s army and top military officials as fighting continued in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The announcement from the US Treasury Department came just days after The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration had tabled sanctions on Rwanda in January due to private pressure from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who argued that sanctions could alienate the African nation following a call with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Among those sanctions Monday are Rwanda’s army chief of staff, along with the chief defense staff and two other senior Rwandan generals. The sanctions represent a direct challenge to Rwanda over its long-denied military support for M23, the rebel group that has seized major cities including Goma and Bukavu in eastern Congo.
The announcement provoked a stern response from Rwanda’s foreign ministry, which said in a statement that the sanctions “misrepresent the reality and distort the facts of the conflict.”
But the US Treasury said Rwanda’s military is still “actively supporting, training, and fighting” alongside M23, which it said is responsible for human rights abuses and a mass displacement crisis in the country. It also accused Rwanda of using M23 to access “mineral-rich areas of eastern DRC” and fund M23 forces.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects “the immediate withdrawal of Rwanda Defence Force troops, weapons, and equipment [from the eastern DRC].”
Know More
In December, Trump hosted both Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Kagame at the White House to sign a peace treaty. Yet fighting has intensified since then, with M23 capturing the strategic city of Uvira for about a month, after which mass graves were found by Congolese authorities.
The continued fighting has undermined Trump’s efforts to take a victory lap around a US-brokered peace deal announced last year.
For years, DR Congo has pushed for more international pressure on Rwanda to choke off military support for M23, while Rwanda has consistently denied direct involvement in the conflict — a stance contradicted by UN investigations.
M23 has waged an insurgency in eastern Congo since 2012, with previous ceasefires repeatedly crumbling. The group’s resurgence in 2022 caught international observers off guard, with subsequent investigations citing increased Rwandan military participation. In a January statement to a US House committee, Rwanda’s ambassador to the US Mathilde Mukantabana admitted to “security coordination” between her government and M23, but labeled the relationship one focused on “defensive measures.”
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, called on Rwanda and M23 to “halt their advances immediately,” but also said the Congolese government and its military “must abandon their pursuit of a military solution in Eastern Congo.” Risch called for both sides to return to the negotiating table.
Notable
- Kinshasa has signed a series of agreements with US companies and Washington in recent months, with many of the deals based on the DR Congo’s natural resources.