Congo asks leagues, teams to cut Rwanda ties

The Democratic Republic of Congo is calling on the NBA, Formula 1 and major international soccer clubs to end multimillion-dollar deals with Rwanda’s autocratic government.

The NBA, whose recent Africa expansion is centered in Rwanda, was the latest to receive a letter from Congo officials. Soccer teams Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain and racing’s Formula 1 received similarly worded pleas in recent weeks.

In her letter Thursday to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, DRC Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner questioned the NBA’s morality, calling on Silver to consider whether the league’s “commitment to social justice and respect for human rights” aligns with its business ties to Rwanda, which the DRC blames for a surge in violence in its country. The letter asked Silver to sever the league’s dealings with Rwanda, “If not for your own conscience, then at least in solidarity with the innocent victims of Rwandan aggression.”

The NBA launched the Basketball Africa League, its first league outside North America, five years ago in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali. The NBA has said the U.S. government encouraged it to do business in Rwanda, and when asked about the DRC letter, a league spokesman said, “We will continue to follow U.S. government guidance everywhere we operate.”

The DRC earlier called on Arsenal, Bayern Munich and PSG to end their “blood-stained” sponsorship deals and on F1 to end ongoing talks with Rwanda over its bid to host a future grand prix event.

“We have been closely monitoring the developments relating to the DRC and Rwanda and continue to do so,” an F1 spokesman wrote in an email to ESPN, adding of potential race sites, “We assess any potential request in detail and any future decisions would be based on the full information and what is in the best interests of our sport and our values.”

The letters come amid violence driven by the Rwandan-backed rebel group M23 and as many as 4,000 Rwandan troops, according to the United Nations.

Kayikwamba Wagner calls Rwanda President Paul Kagame an “imperialist autocrat” whose army and support of the M23 has led to the displacement of more than 700,000 people and more than 3,000 deaths in eastern Congo. Kagame has been likened to Russian President Vladimir Putin and accused of orchestrating a range of human rights violations.

Kayikwamba Wagner asked in the Thursday letter whether the NBA was aware that Rwanda’s actions have left “thousands trapped in Goma without access to food, water, or security.”

Central to the conflict in the DRC are vast amounts of valuable minerals used to make smartphones, laptop computers, electric vehicles and many more electronic staples. The U.N. and DRC have accused Rwanda of backing the M23 to steal minerals and seize control of mines in the Congo. In her letter to Silver, Kayikwamba Wagner asked, “How certain are you that blood mineral cash is not being used to fund the sponsorships for the [Basketball Africa League]?”

ESPN previously reported that the NBA’s partnership with Rwanda was central to establishing the Basketball Africa League, which launched in 2021; each of the first four championships were played in Kigali at a $104 million arena built in less than a year. As part of a five-year contract extension signed in 2023, Rwanda pays the NBA’s business entity in Africa $6 million to $7 million annually in exchange for teams displaying “Visit Rwanda” on their jerseys and the Kigali arena hosting some playoffs. Rwanda’s national airline, RwandAir, also is the league’s official travel partner.

In an interview Tuesday with Sky News, Kayikwamba Wagner said the soccer teams’ Visit Rwanda deals are “advertising for a country that is wreaking havoc in the Great Lakes Region and that is de factor a warmonger.”

Kagame told CNN last week that the DRC’s letters to the soccer teams are a “wasted effort,” adding, “I think they should direct the effort towards managing their own problems, their own politics properly.”

The United States, along with the other countries that make up the G7, recently condemned the offensive in Eastern Congo and urged the M23 and the Rwanda Defense Force to end their attacks.

Last season, Burundi’s Basketball Africa League team was removed from competition after forfeiting two games because its players refused to wear jerseys that displayed the Visit Rwanda logo. Burundi had closed its border with Rwanda after accusing Kagame’s government of supporting rebel fighters in Burundi.