Explained: Why DR Congo is asking Arsenal, Bayern Munich and PSG to end 'Visit Rwanda' sponsorship deals

Democratic Republic of Congo has asked top European football clubs Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain to end their “blood-stained” sponsorship deals with “Visit Rwanda” following the escalating humanitarian crisis in the central African country.

Arsenal had first signed the football development and tourism promotion partnership with Rwanda in 2018. The latest deal with the 13-time English top-flight champions who have finished runners-up in each of the last two seasons is reportedly worth more than £10 million ($12.39 million) per year.

Reigning Ligue 1 champions PSG have had the Rwanda sponsorship since 2019 while 33-time German top-flight champions Bayern Munich had signed a five-year deal in 2023.

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Here’s why DRC wants the three European heavyweights to sever ties with the land-locked nation that it shares its eastern border with:

Why Arsenal, Bayern Munich and PSG have been asked to end “blood-stained” sponsorship deals with Rwanda

DR Congo’s plea to the three clubs to end their “Visit Rwanda” sponsorship deal comes at a time when a raging conflict between its troops and M23 rebels threatens to develop into a full-scale war between the two nations. The conflict has also led to severe human rights violations in the form of executions, gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence as well as bombing of displacement camps, according to the United Nations.

As per Reuters, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to seek shelter in Goma, the city that lies in the eastern region of DR Congo, after fleeing from the scene of the conflict. The Congolese health minister added that there were almost 800 bodies lying in hospital morgues in the city.

DRC has accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels, who launched an offensive to seize east Congo’s largest city that is home to gold, coltan and tin mines.

“Thousands are currently trapped in the city of Goma with restricted access to food, water, and security,” DR Congo’s foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said in her letters to the clubs, according to a media statement from her ministry on Sunday.

“Countless lives have been lost; rape, murder and theft prevail. Your sponsor is directly responsible for this misery. If not for your own consciences, then the clubs should do it (end their sponsorship agreement) for the victims of Rwandan aggression.”

Wagner also cited a UN report that suggested there were 4,000 Rwandan troops active in DR Congo.

Rwanda, on the other hand, claims it is defending itself and has accused its neighbour of joining forces with ethnic Hutu-led militias that is targeting Tutsis in Congo and threatening Rwanda, where Hutus had targeted Tutsis in the 1994 genocide.