The United States has imposed visa restrictions on several senior Rwandan officials, ramping up diplomatic pressure on Kigali over its alleged continued backing of the M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, despite a US-brokered peace agreement signed just three months ago.
The State Department announced the restrictions on Friday, saying the targeted officials were being held accountable for their support of M23, which persists in defiance of the Washington Accords, a peace deal signed in December between the governments of Rwanda and Congo. In a statement attributed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington said that “by continuing to support M23 and violating the Washington Accords, these individuals are driving violence and undermining the stability” of the entire Great Lakes region.
The identities of the targeted officials were not publicly disclosed.
Friday’s visa restrictions follow a sharper set of measures unveiled earlier in the week. On Monday, the US 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 and whose fighters have been blamed for widespread human rights abuses.
The State Department made clear that both parties to the Washington Accords bear responsibilities, saying the US expects the DRC to immediately neutralise the FDLR armed group and its affiliates, while Rwanda must withdraw its troops and military equipment from Congolese territory. “Only then will the immense economic potential of the Great Lakes region be realised,” the department said.
Rwandan officials rejected the US measures as unjust and counterproductive, arguing that the DRC government had itself violated the peace agreement by failing to disarm local militias. President Paul Kagame has consistently maintained that Rwanda’s engagement is a defensive measure to protect the rights and security of Congolese Tutsis along its border.
M23 has grown from a few hundred fighters in 2021 to roughly 6,500, according to UN estimates. The conflict escalated sharply in January 2025 when the rebels made an unprecedented advance into the key eastern cities of Goma and Bukavu. Eastern Congo remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with approximately 100 armed factions vying for control of the mineral-rich territory.
