The sanctions are based on reporting from UN missions and western surveillance of the RDF's continuing support for the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23)'s offensive in the Kivu provinces of Congo-Kinshasa running counter to commitments made by President Paul Kagame in Washington when he signed an accord with Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi last December (AC Vol 66 No 25 Trump's peace deal unravels as M23 seizes strategic eastern city)...

President Félix Tshisekedi's government is pressing its diplomatic advantage after the US State Department sanctioned the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) and four of its senior commanders for their role in the war in eastern Congo-Kinshasa...

On 4 February Vice-President J D Vance and Secretary Rubio welcomed Congo President Félix Tshisekedi to Washington for a meeting to form a preferential trade zone for critical minerals attended by 55 countries following Kinshasa's signing of a strategic partnership agreement with the US in December...

But Kigali will point out and the UN experts bear this out that President Félix Tshisekedi is also violating those accords as Kinshasa's army les Forces armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) has continued to coordinate with the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) after pledging to end cooperation...

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and his Congolese counterpart Félix Tshisekedi signed the peace agreement alongside US President Donald J Trump...

The plan was to expedite negotiations for the mineral-security accord then Congo-Kinshasa President Félix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame would sign a peace treaty in the White House within a month...

Following US intervention Congo-K President Félix Tshisekedi's government and state mining company Gécamines rejected Norinco's bid...

Its other African engagement – a $5 million six-month lobbying contract with Congo-Kinshasa's President Félix Tshisekedi – was abruptly cancelled just weeks after signing at the insistence of Trump's Africa advisor Massad Boulos (AC Vol 66 No 8 How Trump's in-law shut down the Kinshasa lobbyists)...