KIGALI – The United States has imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s Gasabo Gold Refinery, two of its senior executives and three affiliated mining companies, accusing them of facilitating the illicit trade of minerals smuggled from rebel-controlled areas of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The sanctions, announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), target Gasabo Gold Refinery, its Chairman Jean Malic Kalima, General Manager Bosco Kayobotsi, and three mining firms linked to Kalima—Bugambira Mines Ltd, Wolfram Mining and Processing Ltd, and Rwinkwavu Mining Corporation Ltd.
According to the U.S. Treasury, the refinery was part of a network that allegedly worked with the M23 rebel group to transport and process gold extracted from eastern DRC before exporting it through Rwanda. Washington claims that at least 60 kilograms of gold, valued at millions of dollars, were smuggled from eastern Congo to the refinery during the early months of 2026.
“The United States will not allow rogue groups to profit from the illicit mineral trade and destabilize the region,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said while announcing the measures.
Under the sanctions, all property and financial interests of the designated individuals and entities that fall under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen. American citizens and companies are also prohibited from conducting business with them.
The Treasury said the action supports the U.S.-brokered Washington Accords signed by Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in December 2025, which seek to end conflict in eastern Congo and improve transparency in the region’s critical minerals trade.
Washington alleges that since M23 expanded its control over parts of eastern DRC, Gasabo Gold Refinery became a key destination for gold transported from rebel-held areas before it was refined in Kigali. The Treasury also noted that the refinery had previously been sanctioned by the European Union over similar allegations.
The M23 rebel group controls significant mineral-rich territory in eastern DRC and has long been accused by the United Nations and several Western governments of receiving support from Rwanda. Kigali has consistently denied backing the rebels, maintaining that its security concerns stem from armed groups operating inside eastern Congo.
Rwanda has previously criticized similar sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western governments, describing them as unfair and one-sided, while arguing that Kinshasa has also failed to fully implement its commitments under the regional peace agreement.
The latest sanctions mark another escalation in Washington’s efforts to disrupt illicit mineral trafficking networks that it says are financing armed groups and fueling instability in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
