US Imposes Sanctions on Rwanda’s Defense Ministry and Bank Over Congo Conflict
US sanctions Rwanda Ministry of Defence and Zigama Credit and Savings Society over eastern DR Congo conflict and support for M23 rebels.
POLICY WIRE — Washington, United States — The United States government enacted financial penalties on Wednesday targeting Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence and a key financial institution over the escalating warfare in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to updates from the Treasury Department website, the measures aim to ramp up diplomatic leverage on Kigali. Washington is pressing the East African government to pull back its military forces from neighboring DR Congo and cease backing armed factions in the region.
Alongside the defense ministry, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted the Zigama Credit and Savings Society. This prominent Rwandan financial entity serves the nation’s security apparatus and has been implicated in aiding the March 23 Movement and its political branch, the Congo River Alliance.
Rebels aligned with the AFC and M23 currently hold expansive territories across North and South Kivu. These hostilities persist in the mineral-dense eastern Congolese territories despite ongoing diplomatic interventions by the Trump administration to broker peace.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
