Trump sanctions Tshisekedi-backed militia, the writing is on the wall for Kinshasa

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned PARECO, a militia backed by Congolese ruler Felix Tshisekedi.

This decision is a direct warning: unless Tshisekedi dismantles the armed groups he supports, as stipulated in the Washington agreement between the DRC and Rwanda, further sanctions will follow. By targeting PARECO’s mineral smuggling and forced labour rackets, the Trump administration has placed Tshisekedi’s alliances under scrutiny.

This is just the opening salvo in a campaign that could soon target his wider Wazalendo militias if he continues to ignore his obligations.

PARECO’s violent origins explain the urgency.

Formed between 2007 and 2009 by Congo-based Hutu extremists and army officers, the group enriched itself through mining rackets, extortion, smuggling, and the terrorisation of civilians via executions and forced labour. By sanctioning PARECO, OFAC signals that Tshisekedi’s protection of such a criminal enterprise violates the commitments he signed in Washington, and that further measures will inevitably follow if he refuses to comply.

At the core of PARECO is Gen. Janvier Mayanga wa Gishuba. In 1993, he co-founded the first Congolese Hutu “fighter” militias in Masisi, aligned with Rwanda’s Habyarimana regime, with some members later participating in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

Reintegrated into the army, Mayanga became the highest-ranking Hutu officer before co-founding PARECO.

OFAC’s sanction strikes directly at Tshisekedi’s reliance on a militia head with decades-long ties to those that perpetrated the 94 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Unless Tshisekedi severs these connections, Washington will enforce disarmament externally.

PARECO’s collaboration with FDLR is an open secret. UN experts in 2008 and 2009 reported Mayanga’s close contacts and suspected financing of the FDLR. Yet, in December 2023, Tshisekedi appointed him national coordinator of the Wazalendo militias, legalised a month prior, whose core remains FDLR and Nyatura auxiliaries. OFAC’s sanction now shines a spotlight on this policy; if Tshisekedi persists, all Wazalendo forces and his regime’s backers will face similar consequences.

In short, OFAC’s action signals the beginning of serious action against Tshisekedi and his goons.

He stands warned.