NBA’s Rwanda ties face scrutiny after sanctions-linked BAL withdrawal | NBA
AAs the NBA enters its playoff crescendo, its carefully cultivated image as one of the most progressive sports leagues is once again in the spotlight due to its partnership with Rwanda, which has long been accused of human rights abuses and war crimes.
In March 2026, the Trump administration announced sanctions targeting the Rwandan military and four senior officials for their role in abuses and military aggression in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Shortly after this announcement, one of the top teams competing in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) – a premier continental league co-founded by NBA Africa – suddenly withdrew from the competition. This team was found to have deep ties to the sanctioned Rwandan army.
“The APR will no longer participate in the 2026 BAL season,” we can read in a press release published by the BAL on March 13.
The Rwanda Patriotic Army Basketball Club, commonly known as RPA, is a prominent Rwandan basketball club based in Kigali that dates back to the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s. The team is owned and funded by the Rwanda Defense Forces – a fact which is proudly stated on the team’s BAL profile page. In January 2026, the RDF even organized a lunch for the APR players and staff to celebrate their victory in the local Super Cup.
Under U.S. Treasury sanctions, all assets held by the RDF under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. entities are prohibited from engaging in transactions with the military or individuals connected to it. Given that the BAL operates under the umbrella of the NBA – a US-based organization – allowing a team directly linked to a sanctioned military body to compete could expose the league to serious risks of sanctions non-compliance. Although the sanctions are limited to the RDF and do not extend to other sectors of the Rwandan government, they have drawn renewed attention to the NBA and its friendly ties with the infamous Rwandan president, Paul Kagame.
De facto ruler of Rwanda since 1994, Kagame won international praise for commanding the rebel force that ended the Rwandan genocide. However, he has since ruled his country with an iron fist, committing serious and systematic human rights violations both within Rwanda and beyond its borders. This includes enforced disappearances, assassinations of political opponents, torture and state-imposed censorship. In 2024, Kagame broke his own record by winning the presidential election with more than 99% of the vote, reflecting his totalitarian grip on the African nation.
Relations between the NBA and Rwanda officially began in August 2015, when some of the league’s top coaches hosted a basketball camp in the capital Kigali, as part of the African Giants program. The following year, Kagame attended an NBA Africa luncheon with league commissioner Adam Silver as part of the All-Star Game festivities. In 2018, he gave a speech at an NBA reception in New York.
At the time, the Kagame regime had already helped trigger two wars in the DRC, which resulted in the deaths of millions of people in the region. Thousands of troops from Kagame and allied M23 militias continue to operate in eastern DRC, displacing hundreds of thousands of people, looting mines rich in strategic mineral resources and wreaking a series of massacres, rapes and other gross human rights violations. Nonetheless, the NBA continued to deepen its ties with Kagame. When NBA Africa and Fiba launched the BAL, Rwanda won the rights to host the inaugural season in 2021.
By positioning Rwanda as a key basketball and NBA hub in Africa, Kagame was able to present himself as a leading African figure in a sport that was among the most popular in the United States and was gaining ground on the African continent. Since then, he has made regular appearances at NBA games – flanked by an entourage of friends and family – attended NBA summits as a guest of honor and made Rwanda a key player in African basketball aspirations.
In December 2023, Claire Akamanzi, Kagame’s former aide and minister, was appointed CEO of NBA Africa, further cementing Kagame’s influence on sports on the continent. Less than two years later, in September 2025, Visit Rwanda – the official tourism brand of the Rwanda Development Board – announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, strengthening its presence in the sport. This agreement further expands Visit Rwanda’s global sports portfolio, which also includes agreements with Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid.
In February 2026, Kagame again attended the NBA All-Star Game before meeting with senior NBA officials to discuss the future of soccer in Africa. Among those present at the discussions was NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, who previously defended the NBA’s ties to Kagame in an article on ESPN. When two U.S. senators later accused the NBA of “putting profit over principle,” Tatum once again defended the league by saying the NBA was following “the lead of the U.S. government on where it is appropriate to do business around the world.”
“If U.S. policy were to change regarding business activities in Rwanda or any other BAL market, our actions would of course change accordingly,” Tatum wrote in response to the senators. After the withdrawal of the RDF-funded APR, BAL announced that the APR would be replaced by another local team called RSSB Tigers, which is owned by the Rwanda Social Security Board. The team has since qualified for the BAL qualifiers, which are scheduled to take place in Kigali in May.
Contacted by the Guardian, the NBA reiterated that the league continues to comply with US government guidelines regarding its engagement in Rwanda, and referred me to Tatum’s previous statements on the matter.
For now, the NBA remains in compliance with US foreign policy, which has so far only targeted the Rwandan army and a handful of officials. But the question remains whether its relations with Rwanda and with Kagame will pose greater risks in the long term.
