The Democratic Republic of Congo is targeting Rwanda’s international sporting ties in a bid to raise diplomatic pressure over its neighbour’s support for rebels in the east of the huge central African country.
DR Congo’s foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, said on Friday she had written to the National Basketball Association’s commissioner Adam Silver urging him to end his league’s ties with Rwanda.
“I suggest that the NBA consider whether its affiliation with Rwanda aligns with the league’s commitment to social justice and respect for human rights,” Wagner wrote.
Rwanda’s capital Kigali has hosted all four championships of the Basketball Africa League, the NBA’s Africa affiliate launched in 2021. Several Rwandan entities are affiliate sponsors of the BAL, with each team displaying the name of Rwanda’s tourism board, Visit Rwanda, across their jerseys.
The NBA said it would “continue to follow US government guidance everywhere we operate”.
Wagner has also written to Formula One motor racing about a Rwandan bid to host a Grand Prix, and to European football clubs Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, calling on them to end their sponsorship deals with Visit Rwanda. Wagner said this week that none of the clubs or F1 had yet responded.
Rwanda, which has built close ties with western countries since the 1994 genocide in which up to 1mn Tutsis and Hutu sympathisers were killed, has made sport a key focus of an international soft power campaign.
But its sporting partnerships have come under increased scrutiny after a major offensive by M23, a Rwanda-backed rebel group which claims to protect ethnic Tutsis in eastern DR Congo.
M23 has renewed its advance in recent days, taking several towns in South Kivu province after capturing North Kivu’s regional capital Goma last month. The group claimed on Friday to have taken control of a second airport in the region.
The UN reported in December that up to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers are fighting alongside the M23 against the Congolese army and FDLR militia group. Rwandan President Paul Kagame has denied accusations that his soldiers are in DR Congo, though he has also simultaneously sought to justify its presence and right to defend itself.
Asked about Rwanda’s sports partnerships and its alleged activity in DR Congo, a spokesperson for Kagame said: “Rwanda has managed to build partnerships of mutual value that we are proud of and want to protect — this shows that the ongoing conflict is one Rwanda did not choose and we want it to end as soon as possible.”
Visit Rwanda has been a sponsor of English Premier League team Arsenal since 2018, with PSG following a year later and Bayern in 2023. In September, Rwanda will become the first African nation to host the cycling Road World Championships.
Rwanda’s ambitions in motorsport became clear in December when the country hosted the general assembly of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the governing body that oversees F1.
Kagame, who handed out awards on stage at the event, announced that his country was bidding to host a Grand Prix and said discussions with F1 had made “good progress”.
In response to Wagner’s letter, F1 said: “We have been closely monitoring the developments relating to the DR Congo and Rwanda.”
It said it had received “requests from multiple locations around the world” wishing to stage a race, adding: “Any future decisions would be based on the full information and what is in the best interests of our sport and our values.”
More than 5,000 people were killed or injured in last month’s battle for Goma, and human rights groups have documented a series of abuses in the M23-led campaign.
Sports investments have become a popular route for repressive governments to improve their image abroad. State-backed entities in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have bought European football clubs and hosted major sporting events.
For Rwanda, sporting deals help to “curate this image as a modern, dynamic, progressive, clean, safe, and attractive African state and destination,” said Michela Wrong, an expert on African politics.
Arsenal, owned by US-based Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, declined to comment, while Paris Saint-Germain, owned by the sporting subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2023, Bayern Munich opted not to renew a €20mn-a-year agreement with Qatar Airways after pressure from fans.
Bayern Munich chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen has said his club is assessing the Visit Rwanda sponsorship with Germany’s foreign ministry, and that he recently sent two employees to the country to evaluate the situation. The club’s deal with Visit Rwanda runs until 2028.
“We’re hoping that [Bayern] would travel a bit further down the road and see what is actually beyond Visit Rwanda,” Wagner told the FT.
DR Congo has explored its own sporting deals, and last year held talks with Italian football club AC Milan about a potential sponsorship.
