Rwanda has expressed strong discontent over recent US sanctions imposed on State Minister James Kabarebe. The US accuses him of contributing to the Western-backed, three-decade-long war over resources in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Rwandan government contends that such sanctions are ineffective, asserting that peace would have come long ago if they were a viable solution.
The DRC welcomed the US Treasury’s decision to sanction Kabarebe and M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, and advocated for more stringent sanctions to compel Rwanda to withdraw from eastern DRC. Following the Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 militia’s capture of the capitals of DRC’s North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, the government has been urging the international community to take firmer action against Rwanda.
Critics argue that sanctions, when not directed at high-ranking officials, serve merely as symbolic measures that allow influential figures like Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni to pursue their Western-aligned agendas in the Great Lakes region without facing the consequences.
The US employs sanctions as a means to punish individuals or organisations involved in alleged human-rights abuses and destabilising actions. By this standard, one could argue that Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-97), the DRC dictator supported by Washington after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba (1925-61), should have faced sanctions for gross human-rights violations. Instead, Mobutu’s reign of terror enabled Western corporations to exploit the DRC’s resources, and he was only deposed when the US found him of no use. Notably, Africa is the most affected by sanctions, yet conflicts and human-rights abuses continue, mainly because the US plays a significant role in destabilising the continent.
By 2010, approximately 6 million Congolese had lost their lives due to the ongoing resource conflict, with about 7 million more internally displaced as of last year, and 700,000 displaced since January alone.
Sources:
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0022
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1869
https://www.usip.org/publications/2016/06/us-sanctions-policy-sub-saharan-africa
https://www.dw.com/en/us-sanctions-on-africa-need-an-overhaul-say-experts/a-55361234
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0dg11y6xko
https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/04/29/victims-describe-mobutus-long-reign-of-torture
https://www.minaffet.gov.rw/updates/news-details/statement-on-us-designation
https://x.com/PatrickMuyaya/status/1892642834307785186
https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war