AFRICA/DR CONGO – “US sanctions against the Rwandan army confirm its presence in eastern DRC”

Kinshasa – “This is a significant sanction that confirms Rwanda’s presence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” local sources in South Kivu told Fides, following the sanctions imposed on March 2 by the US Treasury Department against the Rwandan army, accused of supporting the M23 rebellion in eastern DRC. The inclusion of the Rwandan army on the US sanctions list entails the freezing of its assets in the United States and a ban on any transactions with US individuals or companies. However, a temporary exception has been provided for contracts or operations already underway, valid until April 1, 2026.
Sanctions have also been imposed on four high-ranking officers of the Rwandan armed forces: General Mubarakh Muganga, Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Armed Forces; General Vincent Nyakarundi, Chief of the Army Staff; General Ruki Karusisi, commander of the 5th Infantry Division and former head of Rwandan special forces, already sanctioned by the European Union since March 2025; and General Stanislas Gashugi, who replaced Karusisi as head of the special forces on March 15, 2025.
However, our sources ask, “What prevents us from imposing heavy sanctions on the person at the heart of these thirty years of wars, including the latest one : President Paul Kagame? What makes him ‘sacred,’ so that the whole world fears jeopardizing his friendship? The answer is essentially one: economic convenience. But politics has no friends, and when you are no longer useful, it discards you,” our sources conclude.
The sanctions imposed by the Trump administration send Rwanda the message that its interference in the eastern provinces of the DRC will no longer be tolerated, following the United States’ sponsorship of the Washington peace agreements of June 27, 2025 and the Doha peace agreements of July 19, 2025 . Furthermore, Washington recently reached a preliminary agreement with Kinshasa to exploit resources in areas controlled by the Kigali-backed rebels . Kagame received military training in the United States, attending courses at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Rwandan president also maintains important contacts in Washington. In fact, at the end of February, after learning of the imminent imposition of sanctions against his armed forces, he reportedly asked—according to a Wall Street Journal investigation—an influential Republican senator to intercede with President Trump to block them, but without success.

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