KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The U.S. is imposing visa restrictions on “several senior Rwandan officials for fueling instability” in eastern Congo, the State Department said on Friday, intensifying pressure on the East African country after sanctions announced earlier this week.
The unnamed officials are targeted for their support of Congo’s M23 rebel group, which the U.S. government says persists despite a U.S.-mediated peace agreement signed in December between the governments of Rwanda and Congo.
“By continuing to support M23 and violating the Washington Accords, these individuals are driving violence and undermining the stability” in the region, said the statement attributed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The U.S. said it “expects all parties to the Washington Accords to fully honor their commitments,” which include expectations for Congo to immediately neutralize armed groups that threaten Rwanda as well as the withdrawal from Congo of Rwandan troops.
On Monday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Rwandan military and four of its senior officials for supporting M23, whose rebellion has caused the displacement of thousands of people in eastern Congo. The group is also blamed for human rights abuses there.
Rwandan authorities said U.S. sanctions were unjust, citing what they said were violations of the peace agreement by Congo’s government.
U.S. President Donald Trump at the time of signing praised the leaders for their courage, as the deal also opened the region’s critical mineral reserves to the U.S. government and American companies.
Despite the agreement, fighting between the two parties continues on several fronts in eastern Congo, claiming numerous civilian and military casualties.
M23 is the most prominent of about 100 armed factions vying for control in eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the U.N. agency for refugees.
Congo, the U.S. and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters, according to the U.N.
M23 emerged in 2012 as a Tutsi-led rebel group whose members said a 2009 agreement signed to look after their interests — including integration into the army and the return of refugees from elsewhere in East Africa — had been violated by Congo’s government.
Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, has described M23’s struggle as justified in defense of the rights of Congolese Tutsis, who have sought shelter in neighboring countries over the decades.
The decades-long conflict escalated in January 2025 after the rebels made an unprecedented advance into the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, further expanding their control of several cities and towns in the hard-hit region.
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