The United States government has imposed sweeping financial sanctions on a network of Rwandan mining companies and executives accused of smuggling conflict minerals out of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to bankroll the Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group.
The penalties, announced Thursday, June 25 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), target Gasabo Gold Refinery Ltd , its Chairman Jean Malic Kalima, General Manager Bosco Kayobotsi, and three other Rwandan mining companies controlled by Kalima: Bugambira Mines LTD, Wolfram Mining and Processing LTD, and Rwinkwavu Mining Corporation LTD.
According to U.S. authorities, Gasabo Gold Refinery has acted as a critical conduit for Rwandan government officials and M23 rebels to launder illicitly extracted gold. The U.S. Treasury revealed that earlier this year, at least 60 kilograms of gold—valued at millions of dollars—were plundered from M23-occupied areas in South Kivu and escorted across the border by Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) soldiers directly to the Kigali-based refinery.
“The United States will not allow rogue groups to profit from the illicit mineral trade and destabilize the region,” U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement. “The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mineral wealth rightfully belongs to the Congolese people.”
Washington noted that the illicit trade funds weapons, pays fighters, and perpetuates severe humanitarian crises, including forced labor, child labor, and sexual violence. The statement pointed to a catastrophic March 2026 mine shaft collapse at the M23-controlled Rubaya coltan mine, which killed over 200 people, including children, as evidence of the dangerous conditions under rebel-held operations.
The U.S. move is designed to enforce the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, a peace framework brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump and signed by the leaders of the DRC and Rwanda on December 4, 2025. The accords mandate transparent, traceable, and licit mineral supply chains through a Regional Economic Integration Framework.
This enforcement action follows a string of previous U.S. sanctions issued throughout early 2026 targeting actors driving the eastern DRC conflict. On March 2, 2026, OFAC sanctioned the Rwanda Defence Force for actively training and fighting alongside M23 as the rebel group captured major regional capitals, including Goma and Bukavu.
Under the new sanctions, all U.S.-based assets and property interests belonging to the designated individuals and entities have been frozen. Furthermore, U.S. citizens and global financial institutions are broadly prohibited from transacting with them, risking severe civil or criminal penalties for non-compliance.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury emphasized that while the ultimate goal of the sanctions is to drive a positive change in behavior rather than to punish, it remains committed to dismantling supply chains that smuggle eastern DRC’s minerals through Rwanda to major global refining hubs like China.