Kinshasa, August 10th, 2025 (CPA).- The time for the international community’s complicit silence, previously deplored, in the face of Rwanda’s aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since its entry into Congolese territory under the guise of Laurent Desire Kabila’s ‘Revolution’ (1996) is over. Since Friday, Kigali has been hit by a significant sanction that is affecting its sports and tourism sectors: Bayern Munich, the legendary German football club founded in 1900, has decided, in a statement, to ‘develop its partnership with Rwanda’.
Their agreement, which is now limited to the sports sector, turns its back on promoting tourism in the country of thousand hills. This sponsorship, through the ‘Visit Rwanda’ logo on the team’s jerseys and posters, has been the subject of various criticisms for some time due to Rwanda’s ‘warlike actions’. This sponsorship, through the ‘Visit Rwanda’ logo on the team’s jerseys and posters, has been the subject of various criticisms due to ‘Rwanda’s belligerent action in eastern DRC’, have explained several media organisations, particularly German and French ones.
Political statements and condemnations of Kigali by major assemblies and nations around the world have thus extended to Kigali’s partnership in promoting tourism through the sports sector. Analysts agree in saying that after this setback in the contract signed in 2023 with the German club, the future does not look bright with other European clubs, notably Paris Saint Germain (France) and Arsenal (England), which are also in partnership with Kagame’s country to promote tourism.
The Rwandan troops (RDF) and the M23 have seized large areas and towns in Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu (in eastern DRC) since January 2025 and are slow to comply with the ceasefire and the provisions of the Declaration of Principles signed in Washington under the auspices of US President Donald Trump. To take control of Goma, the Rwandan army and the M23 have massacred 8,500 people, according to an official toll.
In the territory of Rutshuru, the attackers have massacred 319 civilians, according to the UN, using torture and barbaric methods. The first meeting of the Joint Security Coordination Mechanism (JSCM) provided for by the Washington process was held on August 7th and 8th in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with representatives from DRC, Rwanda, the United States, Qatar and the African Union (AU). For thirty years, the East of DRC has been destabilised by the activities of around a hundred local and foreign armed groups, often supported by neighbouring countries, particularly Rwanda, according to the authorities and the United Nations.
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