KINSHASA, Feb 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Democratic Republic of Congo has asked the football clubs Arsenal FC, Paris St-Germain, and FC Bayern Munich to end sponsorship deals with the “Visit Rwanda” tourism campaign as threats of a full-scale war escalate between the neighbours.
Rwandan troops helped the M23 rebel movement take the strategic city of Goma in eastern Congo last week and are expanding territory under their control, according to UN officials.
More than 700 people have died and 2,800 were injured in the latest uptick of a conflict that’s displaced millions of people over the past three years. Rwandan president Paul Kagame denies any involvement.
“Countless lives have been lost; rape, murder and theft prevail,” Congo’s foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner wrote to the three clubs, according to an emailed statement. “Your sponsor is directly responsible for this misery.”
The Rwanda Development Board originally partnered with Arsenal in 2018 as the London club’s first official sleeve sponsor. Similar deals with PSG and Bayern Munich soon followed.
The sponsorships promote tourism and products from Rwanda, and see club members take part in coaching sessions in the small central African country. Rwanda signed the most recent deal with Arsenal in 2021 for about £40 million, according to SportsPro.
Rwanda is often hailed as a development success story, 30 years after a devastating genocide under the ethnic Hutu government killed at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The M23 says it’s protecting the rights of Tutsis in Congo and is fighting a Hutu rebel group with links to the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.
Rwandan tourism, particularly to its gorilla reserves, is now “booming” according to the International Monetary Fund, which estimates the industry would register more than US$600 million in receipts in 2024.
Congo alleges Rwanda’s development is partly based on trafficking minerals and other resources from eastern Congo, which is rich in tin, gold, and tantalum ore, used in most portable electronics.
“Rather than funding the DRC’s economic development, Rwanda’s proceeds from this theft may instead be funding expensive sponsorships of European football clubs,” Congo’s government said in the statement. — NNN-AGENCIES