Yesterday, the US Treasury Department announced it had imposed sanctions on the Rwanda Defense Force as an institution, and four of its senior officers, citing “support for M23 and violation of peace agreements.”
Among the sanctioned include Rwanda’s top defense commanders: General Mubarak Muganga, Major General Vincent Nyakarundi, Major General Ruki Karusisi, and Brigadier General Stanislas Gashugi.
This is unconscionable. Basically the RDF is being sanctioned on ceasefire allegations of which the Kinshasa regime is the real culprit.
These sanctions, which are largely financial in nature, have at the center trade, transactions and access to the US financial system, more than anything else.
In their communique Washington stated that the move was a response to ceasefire breaches and perpetuating the conflict in the Eastern DRC, even if it looks nothing but a decision based on bias and partiality.
According to the Rwanda government communiqué, the United States deliberately ignored blatant violations by the DRC including collaboration with genocidal and hostile militias, specifically FDLR, Wazalendo and mercenaries.
Obviously, Americans are after DRC’s vast mineral wealth and strategic interests for their military build-up hence applying selective pressure on Rwanda.
Yet history tells us a different story. From Harare to Khartoum and to Asmara, Washington and other European countries have imposed sanctions across Africa, presenting them as tools to enforce accountability and democratic reform.
Zimbabwe’s leadership endured decades of restrictions. Sudan survived sweeping isolation until domestic protests shifted the balance. The DRC itself has faced waves of targeted sanctions, some coming from the fact that it harbors hundreds of armed groups including the blacklisted FDLR, interestingly they still trade and transact using foreign currency. Eritrea weathered years of penalties before geopolitical winds changed and restrictions were lifted.
Most of the time sanctions are announced with strong language, financial channels are restricted. Travel bans are imposed, statements are made, but political systems adapt. Elites reroute transactions, strengthen alternative alliances, and adjust to new realities.
In actual honesty these sanctions never topple governments, even if that is what the Kinshasa regime might wish in the case of Rwanda. But it will remain a wishful thinking and Rwanda will continue to exist and prosper.
So, dear Americans, when violations by one party are spotlighted and those by another appear minimized, perceptions of double standards grow stronger.
Africa has seen this script before. Punitive measures generate headlines. They shift alliances. They harden rhetoric. But they never fundamentally alter governance or security realities.
ellenkampire