On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against Kabarebe, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in Charge of Regional Cooperation, accusing him of playing a key role in Rwanda's alleged support for the M23 rebel group operating in the eastern Congo, a claim that the government has repeatedly denied.
The U.S. claims that M23 has been responsible for human rights abuses in the region.
Also sanctioned was Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, the spokesperson of M23 and the Congo River Alliance, along with two companies he controls in Britain and France.
"All property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC," the U.S. Department of Treasury said in a statement.
"In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked," the department added.
Reacting to the move, Rwanda's Government Spokesperson Yolande Makolo dismissed the sanctions as unjustified and ineffective, arguing that punitive measures would not resolve the crisis in eastern DRC.
'The sanctions are unjustified. The international community should support, not undermine, ongoing regional efforts towards a political solution. If sanctions could resolve the conflict in eastern DRC, we would have had peace in the region decades ago,' Makolo said.
Rwanda has consistently argued that the crisis in eastern Congo is rooted in deeper historical and governance issues that require political solutions rather than external pressure.
M23 also denies the allegations of human rights violations, stating that it is fighting against decades of persecution and marginalisation of Congolese Rwandophones in eastern Congo. The conflict has, among others, been attributed to arbitrary drawing up of borders during the colonial period.
"Rwanda was a German colony, and in 1910, 1912, and 1911, there was a meeting in Brussels where Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom decided to draw the borders between the three countries artificially. We had part of the Kingdom of Rwanda which was given to Congo with the people, and another part was given to Uganda. Then we have people of Rwandan culture and heritage in those two countries; in DRC, which was Congo at that time, and Uganda," Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Oliver Nduhungirehe explained during a recent interview.
"But those in Uganda never had any problem; they were integrated into society, considered as Ugandans. However, those in Congo, who have lived there since 1910, were never considered as Congolese; they were always suspected to be Rwandan. And this went on until the independence of Congo, and this marginalization under suspicion continued. In the 1970s, the then President of Zaire, which was the name of the country, President Mobutu, decided to give them citizenship, but 10 years later in the 80s, he stripped that citizenship from them, so their situation was always difficult," he added.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
