Oakland, CA – On March 2, 2026, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and four of its senior officials following their “blatant violations of the Washington Peace Accords” signed between Rwanda and the DRC in December 2025.
The RDF has been actively supporting, training, and fighting alongside its proxy, the March 23 Movement (M23), waging a war that has led to countless deaths, mass atrocities and displacement in eastern DRC. Together, they have seized the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu and strategic mining sites in South and North Kivu.
“Sanctioning the RDF is an important step but is unlikely to meaningfully deter the actors exploiting Congolese minerals that are fueling the war,” said Frédéric Mousseau, Policy Director of the Oakland Institute. “As long as the US continues to support Rwanda as a business hub for refinery and reexport of smuggled Congolese minerals, there is no incentive for RDF/M23 to return valuable mines and lands and end the conflict that has been decimating the Congolese people for over three decades.”
While applying sanctions, the US continues to make deals with critical mineral companies tied to the Rwandan government. In May 2025, Rwanda’s Trinity Metals signed a letter of intent with the US Department of State to establish a new supply chain of tin from Rwanda to the US. In October 2025, Rwanda exported tungsten to the US for the first time through a partnership involving Trinity Metals, Pennsylvania-based Global Tungsten & Powders, and the international commodities trading firm Traxys. Under this ongoing deal, between four and seven containers of tungsten concentrate will be shipped every quarter to the US for two years, offering a strategic alternative source for a mineral largely produced by China.
According to the most recently available ownership information, Ngali Holdings holds 5 percent of Trinity Metals and 25 percent of the company’s Rutongo tin mines. State-owned with reported ties to the RDF, Ngali Holdings was established in 2015 to undertake the “exploration, extraction/exploitation and commercialization of strategic mineral resources.” While the RDF’s minority stake in Trinity Metals does not make the company eligible for sanctions, it shows the limitations of the sanctions’ overall impact. Rwanda’s role in the US plan to seize control of Congolese minerals remains intact.
The US sanctions also fail to confront the massive financial benefits Rwanda/M23 gain from occupying eastern DRC. Since M23 seized the Rubaya mine in eastern DRC in 2024, the group has ensured a monopoly on the export of coltan to Rwanda to collect an estimated US$800,000 monthly from the taxation of coltan production and trade. Rebels have also funneled gold into Rwanda, driving a record US$2 billion in exports in 2025.
Moreover, Rwanda still receives substantial foreign assistance from the US, its largest bilateral donor, with just under US$200 million in 2024 and US$174 million for 2025 – a partial, not fully reported, estimate. With a US$3.37 billion World Bank portfolio for a country of just 14 million people, Rwanda is also among the highest per-capita recipients of World Bank financing – receiving almost four times more per capita than DRC. Horizon Construction, a consortium with links to the RDF, has reportedly been awarded several contracts as part of the Bank’s multi-million dollar road improvement project that is active today.
In October 2025, the Oakland Institute released Shafted: The Scramble for Critical Minerals in the DRC, warning that US diplomatic initiatives, including the Rwanda-DRC peace deal – were being used to advance mineral extraction interests under the guise of bringing peace to the region. The Institute further documented how the RDF Commander in chief, President Paul Kagame has been a champion of impunity despite repeatedly violating peace and ceasefire agreements over the years.
“Rwanda’s violations of the Washington Accord and continued occupation of DRC point to the inherent contradictions of the US-brokered “peace deal” added Mousseau. “The deal granted Rwanda privileged access to Congolese resources and a key role in their refining and reexport – a reward for an aggressor who has made hundreds of millions of dollars from the plundering of Congolese minerals. This impunity and injustice can’t bring peace to Congo,” he concluded.
Source: www.oaklandinstitute.org/
