# Paul Kagame President of Rwanda, commander of the force that ended the 1994 genocide, and — according to successive UN Groups of Experts, the US Treasury and Human Rights Watch — the sponsor of the armed group currently occupying the two largest cities of eastern Congo. Rwanda's official position is consistent and should be stated: it denies backing [[M23]] and frames its posture as defensive, against the [[FDLR]] — the organisational descendant of the forces that carried out the genocide, still present in eastern Congo three decades later. That grievance is real. It is also the justification for a presence that has been financially extraordinarily productive. **What the UN has found.** The Group of Experts documented 3,000–4,000 Rwandan troops fighting alongside M23 in 2024 and concluded that Rwanda exercises **"de facto control and direction over M23 operations,"** language chosen deliberately to establish state responsibility in international law. Crisis Group cites up to 6,000 Rwandan troops in the January 2025 assault on Goma. **The export anomaly.** Rwanda's mineral export revenue rose from **$373 million in 2017 to $1.75 billion in 2024**, roughly 500%, and it recorded $2 billion in gold exports in 2025. Rwanda does have tantalum-bearing pegmatites; the accurate claim is not that it has no minerals but that **its exports vastly exceed any credible domestic output**. A senior figure in the [[ITSCI]] traceability scheme estimated only about 10% of what the country exported had actually been extracted there. **The sanctions.** On **2 March 2026** the US Treasury designated the **Rwanda Defence Force as an institution** plus four generals — the most severe American action against Rwanda in more than a decade — for "actively supporting, training, and fighting alongside" M23. On 25 June 2026 it designated the Gasabo Gold Refinery network. Kigali called the designations biased and one-sided. **And the contradiction.** Rwanda still receives substantial US assistance and World Bank financing, and US-linked mineral purchasing from Rwanda-tied companies has continued. The Regional Economic Integration Framework attached to the [[Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity]] contemplates Rwanda as a hub for cross-border mineral supply chains — which critics argue institutionalises exactly the routing that made the smuggling profitable. Kagame signed the Accords with [[Félix Tshisekedi]] on 4 December 2025; Rwandan forces have not withdrawn. ## See also [[Rwanda]] · [[M23]] · [[M23 Offensive of 2025]] · [[Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity]] · [[Conflict Minerals Ecosystem]]