Arsenal, PSG and Bayern urged to end Visit Rwanda deals

In response to the country’s worsening humanitarian crisis, the Democratic Republic of Congo has urged Arsenal, Bayern Munich, and Paris St-Germain to end their “blood stained” sponsorship agreements with Visit Rwanda.

More than 400, 000 people are being forced out of their homes this year, according to the UN’s refugee agency, compared to the M23 rebels’ recent capture of Goma, the largest city in eastern DR Congo.

According to a group of UN experts, Rwandan army “de facto controls M23 operations.”

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote to Herbert Hainer, the president of Bayern, and the owners of Arsenal and PSG to “question the morality” of the deals.

She cited the possibility that Visit Rwanda’s sponsorship could be financed by the illegal extraction of blood minerals from the occupied areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo before being transported across the border and exported.

In her letter to Arsenal, Kayikwamba Wagner stated that Rwanda’s “culpability” for the ongoing conflict “has become incontrovertible” after the UN reported that 4, 000 Rwandan troops are active in the DRC.

“It’s about time Arsenal stopped pursuing bloody sponsorship deals with this oppressive nation. If not for your own consciences, then the clubs should do it for the victims of Rwandan aggression”, she wrote.

Although the East African nation’s reputation has been improved thanks to the Visit Rwanda campaign, the government has been accused of investing in sport to improve its reputation internationally, a practice that critics have referred to as “sportwashing.”

A sleeve partnership with Arsenal began in 2018, with the latest sponsorship reported to be worth more than £10m ($12.39 million) per year.

In 2023, Bayern Munich and PSG agreed to a five-year football development and tourism partnership.

In addition, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has made an application to host a Formula 1 race, and Kigali is scheduled to host cycling’s World Road Championships in September.

On Friday the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, said there were no plans to relocate the event away from Rwanda.

These deals and events, according to the Central African director of Human Rights Watch, a campaign group that monitors and reports abuse cases worldwide, help conceal Rwanda’s “abysmal track record” in terms of human rights.

According to HRW’s Lewis Mudge, “Rwanda has major flaws with due process that violate its own internal laws or international standards.”

“Increasingly we’re seeing the space for freedom of expression, for some degree of political autonomy, is actually shrinking”.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said 2, 800 people have been injured, as M23 rebels – backed by Rwanda – captured the capital of North Kivu province.

According to reports, the rebels are currently heading south toward Bukavu, South Kivu’s capital.

Eastern DR Congo’s conflict dates back to the 1990s, but it has recently gotten worse.

M23, which is made up of ethnic Tutsis, say they are fighting for minority rights, while DR Congo’s government says the Rwanda-backed rebels are seeking control of the eastern region’s vast mineral wealth.