U.S. Sanctions Rwanda’s Defense Ministry and Zigama Bank Over M23 Support

Economic Warfare & Trade Policy › Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, sanctioned Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence and Zigama Credit and Savings Society, a Rwandan financial institution, accusing both of backing the M23 armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Rwanda must halt its support for M23 and withdraw its troops from eastern DRC,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Treasury press release. Rwanda denies backing M23.

What the Treasury says

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) described the ministry as the umbrella body for Rwanda’s security services, including the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), which it sanctioned on March 2. It said that, at the ministry’s direction, the RDF has deployed thousands of troops across North and South Kivu, where they operate alongside M23 and supply it with equipment, logistics and training. It also said the RDF has brought surface-to-air missile systems and jamming equipment to the battlefield, creating risks for civilian aviation.

Washington says Zigama, a bank serving Rwanda’s security services, handled tens of millions of dollars in transactions for M23 and its political wing, the Congo River Alliance, helped pay for military equipment for Rwandan forces from China, and enabled gold to move from rebel-held areas to Kigali, the BBC reported. Both entities now appear on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list, according to the Oct. 28 OFAC notice. Their property under U.S. jurisdiction is frozen, and Americans are generally barred from dealing with them.

Rwanda and Congo respond

Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told the BBC that the Washington Accords “contain clear commitments regarding Rwanda’s security, specifically the neutralization of the DR Congo-sponsored FDLR genocidal militia, which are wholly unmet, and with no accountability.” The FDLR is a militia linked to perpetrators of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. “Rwanda remains ready to fully implement the Washington Accords, concurrently with the willingness of the DRC to fulfill those commitments,” she said.

Congo’s foreign ministry welcomed the sanctions in a statement to Reuters and urged Rwanda to withdraw its troops. On Oct. 24, President Félix Tshisekedi had called for “concrete sanctions against Rwanda.”

By the numbers

By a TBR count from Treasury and BBC reporting, Washington has now taken three Rwanda-related sanctions actions in 2026, covering 11 targets: the RDF and four senior commanders on March 2, the Gasabo gold refinery and three mining companies in June, and the ministry and Zigama on Oct. 28. The newest round is the smallest by number, but it is the first to hit the ministry that oversees the whole security apparatus and a bank serving it.

The war behind the sanctions

M23 seized Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu, in early 2025, and it controls mining areas including gold sites in South Kivu and Rubaya, a large coltan area in North Kivu. Treasury says civilians in those areas have faced forced labor and illegal “taxation,” and that minerals from rebel territory feed Rwandan supply chains, since Rwanda’s own mining capacity is smaller than the exports it reports.

The Washington Accords, signed by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents on Dec. 4, 2025, were meant to end the fighting and add a regional economic framework on trade and critical minerals, but fighting has continued. On Oct. 12, a new coalition called the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation announced itself as the Congo River Alliance’s successor. The Boston Report covered former President Joseph Kabila’s launch of the FRN with M23 in Goma. Eastern Congo is also fighting a major Ebola outbreak that has passed 10,000 cases.

Pressure on Kigali’s international partnerships is also growing. On Oct. 23, Sens. Jeff Merkley and Marsha Blackburn wrote to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver questioning the league’s commercial ties with Rwanda, the BBC reported. Rwanda this month secured a 10-year deal to host Formula 1’s African Grand Prix in the early 2030s.

Sources

• U.S. Treasury: Treasury Sanctions Rwandan Ministry of Defence and Financial Institution Supporting M23 (Oct. 28, 2026)
• OFAC: Recent actions, Oct. 28, 2026
• BBC: US sanctions Rwanda’s defence ministry over DR Congo conflict
• U.S. Treasury: Treasury Sanctions Rwanda Officials (March 2, 2026)

Additional sources

• AP: US sanctions Rwandan defense ministry