The United States has imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s defence ministry and a Rwandan financial institution, accusing Kigali of continuing to back M23 rebels fighting in mineral-rich eastern Congo despite a US-brokered peace deal signed less than a year ago.
The measures, announced by the US Treasury Department on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, target Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence and Zigama Credit and Savings Society, a financial institution that serves the country’s security forces. They are the sharpest American pressure step yet against the Rwandan government over the conflict, and they put banks and businesses around the world on notice that dealing with the two entities could carry its own sanctions risk.
What happened
Washington said the Rwandan defence ministry directed the Rwanda Defence Force to deploy thousands of troops across eastern Congo’s North and South Kivu provinces, where they operated alongside M23 and supplied the rebel group with military equipment, supplies, logistical support and training.
The Treasury also accused Rwandan forces of introducing advanced weaponry to the battlefield, including surface-to-air missile systems and jamming equipment, which it said created risks for civilian aviation in eastern Congo.
Zigama, the second target, was accused of playing a key role in financing that support. US officials said the institution handled tens of millions of dollars in transactions for M23 and its political wing, the Congo River Alliance, processed payments to suppliers in China and other countries for weapons and ammunition for the Rwanda Defence Force, and helped move gold from rebel-controlled territory in Congo into Rwanda.
Under the sanctions, any property or financial interests belonging to the two entities within US jurisdiction are frozen and must be reported to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Foreign financial institutions that continue to deal with them also face the risk of secondary sanctions.
Why now: the Washington Accords
The timing is tied directly to the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, signed on December 4, 2025, by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi alongside US President Donald Trump. That deal was meant to end the fighting and open up trade across the Great Lakes region. At the signing, Trump declared that the United States was succeeding where many others had failed.
On the ground, however, the fighting has continued. The United States now says Kigali has breached its commitments under the accords, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the sanctions as Washington making good on a promise to hold Rwanda to them.
“Rwanda must halt its support for M23 and withdraw its troops from eastern DRC,” Bessent said in a statement. The State Department went further, saying Rwanda’s support for M23 “violates its obligations and undermines the Washington Accords’ goals of peace and prosperity” and calling on all actors to respect Congo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
What Rwanda and Congo say
Rwanda denies backing M23. Government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said Rwanda remains ready to fully implement the Washington Accords, but argued that commitments from the Congolese side are unmet, including the promise to neutralise the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known as the FDLR, a Hutu militia rooted in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Kigali has long argued that it faces an existential threat from Congolese-based militias founded by ethnic Hutus involved in that genocide. Its foreign minister, speaking on the sidelines of a Russia-Africa summit in Moscow on the same day, said Rwanda should not be treated as a scapegoat for events in Congo, which he described as mainly a Congolese issue.
Congo’s foreign ministry welcomed the sanctions. In a statement, it said they sent a clear message that Rwanda cannot act with impunity, and that Kigali must honour its commitments under the Washington Accords, respect the UN Charter, and withdraw what it described as tens of thousands of troops from Congolese territory.
The United States, Congo and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23; Rwanda denies it, although UN experts have said they found evidence that Rwandan troops have fought alongside and directed the rebels.
Background: a war over land, minerals and history
Eastern Congo has been beset by conflict for three decades. M23 is one of about 100 armed groups competing for a foothold in the mineral-rich region along the Rwandan border, in a war that the United Nations has called one of the most protracted, complex and serious humanitarian crises on Earth.
M23 seized Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, in a lightning assault in early 2025. Since then, US officials say, the group has carried out killings, detentions and abuses in areas under its control, while forced labour has been reported in rich mining areas such as Rubaya.
Minerals run through the whole dispute. The Treasury said Rwanda’s mineral export volumes since the rebellion began exceed the country’s domestic mining capacity, suggesting that minerals from M23-held areas are entering Rwandan supply chains. The State Department separately urged companies worldwide to scrutinise their supply chains for tainted conflict minerals, and warned that state sponsors and armed factions must be prevented from profiting from Congo’s mineral wealth.
This is also not Washington’s first step up the ladder. In March 2026, the United States sanctioned the Rwanda Defence Force itself and four of its senior commanders for supporting M23. Rwanda responded at the time by saying the measures unjustly targeted only one party to the peace process. Sanctioning the ministry that oversees the force, together with its financial institution, is a broader move aimed at the machinery behind the support rather than individual officers alone.
Why it matters
Sanctions of this kind do not stop a war by themselves, but they change the calculations of everyone around it. Banks that clear payments for Zigama, suppliers that sell equipment to the Rwandan military, and traders handling gold and minerals from the region must now weigh the risk of losing access to the US financial system. That is the same kind of economic pressure Western governments have applied elsewhere: the Coalition of the Willing vows tougher Russia sanctions after its London talks on Ukraine, for example, in a different conflict where sanctions are also being used to raise the cost of continuing a war.
For civilians in eastern Congo, the immediate question is whether the pressure translates into a real change on the ground: fewer troops, fewer weapons, and space for the peace deal to work. The region is also grappling with an Ebola epidemic, and continued fighting makes both humanitarian access and disease control harder.
For the Washington Accords, the sanctions are a test. If Kigali changes course, Washington can present the deal as enforced rather than merely signed. If fighting continues, the United States will face pressure to go further, and the credibility of its mediation will be questioned by both sides.
What happens next
Three things are worth watching. First, whether Rwanda offers any concrete move on troop withdrawal or on the FDLR question, which Kigali treats as the unmet half of the bargain. Second, whether major banks and mineral buyers publicly cut ties with the sanctioned entities, which would show whether the financial pressure is biting. Third, whether the fighting in North and South Kivu eases or intensifies in the coming weeks, which will be the real measure of whether the sanctions mattered.
Timeline
- December 4, 2025: Rwanda and Congo sign the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity in Washington, alongside President Trump.
- Early 2025: M23 captures Goma and Bukavu, the provincial capitals of North and South Kivu.
- March 2, 2026: The United States sanctions the Rwanda Defence Force and four senior commanders for supporting M23.
- October 28, 2026: The United States sanctions Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence and Zigama Credit and Savings Society, accusing Kigali of continued M23 support and of breaching the Washington Accords.
- Next: Watch for Rwanda’s formal response, any bank or buyer reaction, and whether fighting in North and South Kivu changes.
FAQs
What did the US sanction on October 28, 2026?
Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence and Zigama Credit and Savings Society, a financial institution serving Rwanda’s security forces, over alleged support for M23 rebels in eastern Congo.
Why does the US say Rwanda is in breach?
Washington says Kigali deployed thousands of troops alongside M23 in North and South Kivu, supplied the rebels with equipment and training, introduced advanced weaponry such as surface-to-air missiles and jamming equipment, and broke commitments made under the December 2025 Washington Accords.
What do the sanctions actually do?
They freeze any property or interests of the two entities under US jurisdiction, require those assets to be reported, and expose foreign financial institutions that deal with them to secondary sanctions risk.
What does Rwanda say?
Rwanda denies backing M23 and says it remains ready to implement the Washington Accords, but argues that Congo’s commitments, including neutralising the FDLR militia, are unmet and without accountability.
Does this end the fighting in eastern Congo?
Not by itself. The sanctions raise the financial and diplomatic cost of continued support for M23, but their effect will be judged by whether troops withdraw, weapons flows slow, and the peace deal gains traction on the ground.
What is Zigama accused of doing?
US officials say Zigama handled tens of millions of dollars in transactions for M23 and the Congo River Alliance, paid foreign suppliers for weapons and ammunition, and helped move gold from rebel-held Congolese territory into Rwanda.
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