Arsenal accused over ‘blood-stained’ Visit Rwanda deal as war escalates in DR Congo

Arsenal's strip currently has the 'Visit Rwanda' sponsorship on the sleeve. Photo / AFP

Premier League football club Arsenal have been accused by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo of a “bloodstained sponsorship deal” over their shirt-sleeve agreement with Rwanda, in light of the recent invasion of Congolese territory.

The DRC’s foreign minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, has written to Arsenal owners Stan Kroenke and son Josh, directly accusing the Rwandan government of supporting rebel groups who have engaged in “rape, murder and theft” in eastern DRC – adding that Arsenal’s “sponsor is directly responsible for this misery”.

Kayikwamba Wagner has sent the same letter to Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-German, who have similar deals with the “Visit Rwanda” tourism campaign, to ask them to break off from it.

The DRC says that 500,000 people have been displaced in the eastern part of the country, with 4000 Rwandan troops active in the territory as well as the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23.

‘Countless lives have been lost – your sponsor is directly responsible for this misery’

Kayikwamba Wagner said in her letter to the Kroenkes: “Thousands are currently trapped in the city of Goma with restricted access to food, water, and security. Countless lives have been lost; rape, murder and theft prevail. Your sponsor is directly responsible for this misery.”

She demanded that the Visit Rwanda deal, first agreed in May 2018 between Arsenal and the Rwandan government, should be ended immediately. “If not,” she added, “for your own consciences, then the clubs should do it for the victims of Rwandan aggression.”

The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, has warned Rwanda president Paul Kagame this week that the invasion puts at risk $1 billion in international aid. Kayikwamba Wagner declared in her letter to Arsenal that they had done a deal with an “oppressor nation”.

“I write to question the morality of your club, your supporters and your players,” she said, “as to why you are continuing your relationship with ‘Visit Rwanda’.

“While Arsenal played its final match of the first phase of this year’s Uefa Champions League [last week] 500,000 more people became displaced in the eastern DRC.”

Rebel M23 fighters have captured Goma and are now seeking to take the city of Bukavu, AFP reported this week. Congolese troops have set up a line between the two cities, it has been reported. M23’s stated plan is to take the capital Kinshasa.

Death toll reaches 700

The United Nations says that 700 people have been killed so far in the fighting and a further 2800 have been injured. Rwanda has claimed that its troops have been deployed in the DRC only as a defensive measure to stop the conflict spilling into Rwanda.

Kayikwamba Wagner also stated in her letter to the Kroenkes that DRC believes the Rwandan-backed forces had plundered “millions of tons of minerals” including copper cobalt, lithium and gold, taken them back across the border and then sold them into the global market.

“How certain are you that blood mineral cash is not being used to fund your sponsorship deal?” Kayikwamba Wagner asked. She said Rwanda’s ultimate plan was to annex large parts of its neighbouring DRC.

Arsenal declined to comment.