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Rwanda’s cycling federation has so far suffered no commercial fallout from pressure over Kigali’s involvement in fighting between DR Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 militia, the head of the federation said.
The federation is in talks with carmaker Volkswagen to agree a sponsorship deal ahead of this year’s cycling Road World Championships, which are set to be held in Kigali in September, Samson Ndayishimiye told reporters at a briefing in London. It earlier reached an agreement with France’s TotalEnergies, he noted.
“Security wise… we’re good,” Ndayishimiye said. “Any issues of being refused sponsorship because of that, it has never happened. Never had an issue. For us where we are, everything is fine.”
He acknowledged that he had taken phone calls from other officials in other cycling federations asking about security in Rwanda as a result of the DR Congo conflict, “but again, the answers are still the same.”
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Rwanda’s High Commissioner to the UK Johnston Busingye, who also took part in the briefing, acknowledged that his country was in “a very rough neighbourhood,” but said that because of unrest in DR Congo, authorities in Kigali “work harder than other countries” in order to ensure security for events such as September’s championships.
The country and its tourism authorities have come under pressure from fans and businesses around the world over Kigali’s backing of the M23 militia that has won significant territory from the DR Congo government in the months leading up to an April ceasefire. And while Rwanda has insisted it does not back M23, it nevertheless participated in direct talks in March with Kinshasa over the conflict.
But while the conflict has exacted a heavy toll on DR Congo, the spillover into Rwanda has been limited, and both cycling and tourism authorities have high hopes for September’s event: Ndayishimiye said his team hoped for between 5,000 and 7,000 international visitors coming only because of the event, but said prior organizers had told him he could expect more than 12,000, which he characterized as “among the biggest” sporting events Rwanda has yet held.
The country has increasingly prioritized hosting major sporting competitions in order to increase its visibility and boost its tourism sector: Rwanda’s foreign minister told Semafor in December that it was pushing ahead with efforts to host a Formula 1 race, and Kigali’s tourism authority has agreed sponsorship deals with major European soccer clubs, adding Atletico Madrid as recently as April to a list that already includes European champions Paris St. Germain.
Yet that sponsorship has increasingly come under scrutiny over Kigali’s backing of M23 and violence in DR Congo: Arsenal fans in particular have called for their club to not renew its deal with Visit Rwanda.