Since a rebellious rebellious group supported by Rwandan troops has launched a major offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo, professional cyclists have run on lush Rwandan hills, John Legend has made a closed countertop concert in the capital, Kigali and the entrepreneurs gathered in a conference center for a convention on financial technology.
The role of Rwanda in the war led by the rebel group M23 aroused criticism from the United States, China and the United Nations. But so far, strong words have not done much to tarnish the country’s status as a leading destination for investors, tourists, athletes and celebrities.
During his first weeks in power, President Trump put an end to practically all American foreign aid, reducing development programs worldwide and leaving in the United States a less negotiation tool when he responds to conflicts. Now Trump taking care of other crises and reducing public spending, experts claim that Rwanda bet on his soft power and his reputation as a security partner and investment center in Africa to minimize the offensive.
“Rwanda seems to have calculated that at the moment, the pressure will not be coordinated and that it can resist the storm,” said Muririthi Mutiga, director of Africa of the International Crisis Group.
“The United States also claims that it can extend its territory,” added Mr. Mutiga, referring to Mr. Trump’s claims that the United States “obtains” Greenland. “It is a time of strong men, in which you feel that you can assert yourself from a military point of view, it will be difficult to withdraw.”
Rwanda is often presented as one of the greatest recent successes in Africa. Ravaged by a genocide who killed almost a sixth in his population in 1994, he has since been emerged as a Higher investment Location in Africa.
The country has spent the last decade to diversify its trade relations to reduce its dependence on the United States and other Western partners. He bought military drones in Türkiye and a Turkish company built Rwanda a majestic congress center. Singapore helped to rethink the capital. He joined forces with Qatar to transform a future international airport into a travel center in Africa.
Despite its involvement in a war in eastern Congo, which has killed thousands in recent months, Rwanda has positioned itself as a reliable security partner in Africa, currently contributing to the second largest number of peacekeepers in the United Nations. His soldiers help protect a French gas project of $ 20 billion in Mozambique and replaced French troops fighting the rebels in the Central African Republic.
Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda for 25 years, worked with the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, which created the Africa basketball league, to organize its playoffs in Kigali, bringing together some of the best teams on the continent. The best European football teams such as Arsenal, Bayern Munich and the St.-Germain de Paris have sponsorship agreements with Visit Rwanda, the National Tourism Agency.
During the tour of Rwanda last month, bicycle teams from the United Arab Emirates, France, South Africa, Israel and elsewhere ran through Kigali and Tropical Green Farms and the Rwanda hilly campaign forests. The young Urbanites broke selfies and applauded while local farmers and children in school uniforms were looking at.
The route also took the cyclists near the border with the Congo, a few kilometers from Goma and Bukavu, where thousands of people died while M23 was moving to capture the two cities earlier this year. Rwanda also has aspirations to organize a Formula 1 Grand Prix race and should host the world cycling championships in September – the first African country to do so.
The image of Kigali as a clean and orderly city has helped stimulate tourism – including $ 1,500 excursions per day to see mountain gorillas in breathtaking national parks – which brought in the country $ 620 million in 2023, according to The Rwanda Development Council. But this image is increasingly in contradiction with the war in progress in the eastern Congo, according to criticism, and the sanctions accumulate.
Germany and Great Britain have frozen part of their aid in Rwanda, although other European countries have been divided on a response to the invasion. The Government of Canada has suspended Some export activities. The United States have imposed sanctions On a Rwandan minister and a spokesperson for the M23.
S&P Global Ratings analysts have warned that the conflict could affect the expenses and tourism of Rwanda infrastructure. After international donors have withdrawn support from Rwanda following an M23 offensive in 2012, the country’s growth dropped by 5%, compared to 8.6% the previous year.
Infrastructure subsidies and projects represent more than 7% of the Rwanda economy, at around 1 billion dollars, according to S&P Global Ratings. Before the Trump administration dismantled the American agency for international development, Rwanda had received around $ 650 million in American foreign assistance in the past five years and more than $ 1.7 billion in the past decade.
Rwandan troops have been present in eastern Congo for years, but the last offensive has been the greatest threat to the Congo for decades.
Kagame denied having supported the M23 and described the conflict near the border as a national security threat to his country. He accused the Congolese authorities of providing a refuge to the militias seeking to attack Rwanda – including hundreds of people who, according to him, were involved in the Rwandan genocide.
Representatives of the Government of Rwanda did not respond to requests for an interview. Tite Batagazi, a political analyst based in Kigali who supports Mr. Kagame’s government, said that “the Congo has a domestic problem, but its leaders prefer to focus on a so-called Rwandan aggression”.
As the Congo fails to set up a counter-offensive, he tried to hit Rwanda in other respects. His Minister of Foreign Affairs, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, urged the NBA and football teams to end their “bloody” sponsorship agreements with Rwanda.
“When you wear a PSG, Arsenal or Bayern Munich jersey, you are very close to this crisis,” said Wagner in an interview. “Admittedly, fans, club owners, players on the field do not represent the kind of human violence and suffering that we see in the eastern Congo.”
John Legend performed in Kigali last month despite boycott calls. He later declared to the BBC: “I do not believe that we should punish the people of Rwanda and punish the people of other countries when we disagree with their leaders.”
No sports organization has publicly responded to calls for a boycott. Arsenal, one of Mr. Kagame’s favorite teams, did not respond to a meeting request from Ms. Wagner when she was in London in February, she said.
PSG belongs to Qatar, a key ally of Rwanda: Qatar Airways and Rwanda are closer to a partnership with the national airline, Rwandair, and invest in a new international airport outside Kigali.
During the Conference on Financial Technology in Kigali last month, entrepreneurs and managers presented their latest mobile fund solutions and their major financial reform plans in Africa.
In Congolese territories controlled by M23, however, local populations remain hampered by cash shortages and banking closures.
