In , when M23 rebels appeared poised to seize control of a major city in eastern Congo, western countries suspended aid to put pressure on Rwanda to withdraw its support. Yet, the international community has stopped short of putting financial pressure on Kigali to withdraw its support for the rebels as happened when they took Goma in That's been true when Kagame has abolished term limits and waged a campaign of repression against his opponents at home.
In , that aid was a key source of leverage as the western powers pressured Rwanda to end its role in the fighting. Donor countries withheld aid and the World Bank threatened to. Only a few nations, including the U. But today, the international community has fewer means to influence Rwanda as M23 advances southward from Goma.
The United States suspended military aid to Rwanda in in the months before it seized Goma but can't make the same threats after suspending it again last year. And since taking office, President Donald Trump has since frozen the vast majority of foreign aid , stripping the United States of the means to use it to leverage any country in particular.
A July report from a U. More have been observed pouring into Congo this week. Kagame has claimed that M23 rebels in eastern Congo merely want to defend Tutsis from the same Hutu extremists who carried out the genocide that killed some , Tutsis and moderate Hutus without intervention from the international community. Rwanda contributes more personnel to U. It is a key supplier of troops deployed to Central African Republic, where the United States worries about growing Russian influence. A decade ago, Rwanda was primarily exporting agricultural products like coffee and tea.
But it has since emerged as a key partner for western nations competing with China for access to natural resources in east Africa. In addition to gold and tin, Rwanda is a top exporter of tantalum, a mineral used to manufacture semiconductors. While it does not publish data on the volumes of minerals it mines, last year the U. State Department said Rwanda exported more minerals than it mined, citing a U. Yet still, the European Union has signed an agreement with Kigali, opening the door to importing critical minerals from Rwanda.
