US Sanctions Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence and Zigama Bank Over M23 Support in Eastern Congo

The United States has imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence and on Zigama Credit and Savings Society, a Kigali financial institution that works for Rwanda’s security services, over their support for the M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the designations on Wednesday 28 October 2026, seven months after it sanctioned the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) itself. Rwanda rejected the move as one-sided.

What Treasury announced

OFAC added the “Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Rwanda” and “Zigama Credit and Savings Society” to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list under Executive Order 13413, the DRC-related sanctions programme, according to the OFAC notice. Any property or interests the two entities hold in the United States, or that are controlled by US persons, are now blocked, and US persons are generally barred from dealing with them. Entities owned 50% or more by them are blocked too.

“Rwanda must halt its support for M23 and withdraw its troops from eastern DRC,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the Treasury statement, presenting the step as holding Kigali to its commitments under the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity. Presidents Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame signed those accords in Washington on 4 December 2025.

What the US says the ministry did

Treasury describes the Ministry of Defence as the umbrella body for Rwanda’s security services, including the RDF, which OFAC designated on 2 March 2026. Reuters reported at the time that the March action also covered senior officers, among them the army chief of staff.

According to Wednesday’s statement, the RDF has, at the ministry’s direction, deployed “thousands of troops” across North and South Kivu, where they operate alongside M23 and supply the group with equipment, logistics and training. Treasury also says the RDF has brought “surface to air missile systems and jamming equipment” into the theatre, which it says creates risks for civilian aviation over eastern DRC. The statement does not name the systems.

The ministry was designated for supporting the already-sanctioned RDF. That legal hook matters: it extends the sanctions from the army to the government department that funds and directs it.

Why Zigama is the more practical target

Zigama CSS, which OFAC lists as established in 1997 and registered in its current form in April 2010, operates on behalf of Rwanda’s security services, according to Treasury. The department says it has:

• paid entities “in China and additional countries” for weapons, ammunition and other military equipment for the RDF;
• paid for RDF travel and accommodation for training;
• through one of its branches, enabled the movement to Kigali of gold mined in M23-held territory in South Kivu;
• processed transactions for M23 and its political wing, the Congo River Alliance (AFC), worth “tens of millions of dollars.”

Treasury did not name the suppliers, the equipment or the value of the arms payments. Sanctioning a ministry mostly carries political weight. Sanctioning the bank that handles its procurement payments can make it harder for foreign suppliers and correspondent banks to keep working with it, because they risk US penalties for transactions involving a blocked party.

Rwanda’s response

Government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told the Associated Press that Rwanda remains ready to fully implement the Washington Accords, but only if the DRC meets its own obligations and the mediator holds all parties to account. She pointed to Kinshasa’s unmet commitments, including neutralising the FDLR, the armed group founded by Hutu extremists linked to the 1994 genocide, according to AP and the Kigali Daily News.

Earlier on Wednesday, before the sanctions were announced, Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told AFP on the sidelines of the Russia–Africa Summit in Moscow that the DRC’s crisis is “mainly a Congolese issue” and that “Rwanda must not be held as a scapegoat for what is happening in Congo forever.” Rwanda has long denied directing M23. It says Congolese militias including the FDLR pose a threat to its security. UN experts say Rwanda exercises significant control over M23 and keeps thousands of troops in the DRC.

The battlefield context

M23 and Rwandan forces took Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu, in early 2025. The group also holds mining areas, including gold sites in South Kivu and the Rubaya coltan area in North Kivu. Treasury says minerals from M23-held territory end up in Rwandan supply chains, pointing out that Rwanda’s reported exports exceed its own mining capacity.

The political picture has also shifted. Treasury noted that on 12 October a new movement, the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), announced it was succeeding the Congo River Alliance. Former Congolese president Joseph Kabila has joined forces with it (see: Kabila heads new Congo rebel front with M23). Fighting has continued despite the December 2025 accords. For the record of the regional force that fought M23 around Goma, see what combat against M23 showed about South African equipment and Rooivalk in the DRC.

What to watch

Three things will show whether the step has any effect: whether Zigama’s foreign banking links hold up, whether the EU or UK follow with matching designations, and whether Rwanda reduces its troop presence in the Kivus, which Washington has made the condition for lifting sanctions. OFAC says delisting is possible if behaviour changes.

Sources

• US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Sanctions Rwandan Ministry of Defence and Financial Institution Supporting M23”, 28 October 2026.
• OFAC, Democratic Republic of the Congo-related Designations, 28 October 2026.
• Associated Press, “US sanctions Rwandan defense ministry over involvement in eastern Congo conflict”, 28 October 2026.
• Reuters via Internazionale, “US imposes sanctions on Rwanda’s defense ministry over Congo conflict”, 28 October 2026.
• Reuters, “US imposes sanctions on Rwanda military over east Congo fighting”, 2 March 2026.
• Kigali Daily News, “US sanctions Rwanda’s defence ministry and Zigama bank over DR Congo conflict”.
• AFP interview with Olivier Nduhungirehe, 28 October 2026, as republished here.