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The Basketball Africa League withdrew the Armée Patriotique Rwandaise club from its 2026 season following US sanctions on the Rwanda Defence Force, with the NBA stating that the military-funded team would remain ineligible while the penalties stay in effect. BAL organizers announced the move on March 13, replacing APR with the RSSB Tigers ahead of the Kalahari Conference group phase that began later that month in South Africa. According to a US Department of the Treasury press release, the sanctions on the RDF and senior officials were imposed for providing troops, weapons, training and logistical support to the M23 group, whose offensives have been linked to widespread human rights abuses in eastern Congo.[[1]](https://apnews.com/article/us-rwanda-sanctions-congo-m23-military-nyakarundi-4122f57015e3f5688d4011de737e278b)
The US Treasury designated the Rwandan Ministry of Defence in late October, citing its direction of RDF operations alongside M23 in North and Kivu provinces where the group has supplied advanced weapons including surface-to-air missiles. A Treasury statement on October 28 said the ministry had facilitated payments and material assistance that enabled M23 activities, adding that the sanctions freeze assets and prohibit US persons from dealings with the designated entities. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated that the measures fulfilled President Trump’s commitment to hold Rwanda accountable under the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity.
APR, based in Kigali and dating to the 1990s, is owned and funded by the Rwanda Defence Force, a connection the club has acknowledged on its BAL profile and through events such as a January 2026 luncheon hosted by the RDF to celebrate a domestic title win. The Guardian reported that the team’s ties to the sanctioned military placed the NBA at risk of compliance violations, given the league’s US base and operations under American sanctions rules. A subsequent replacement by the Rwanda Social Security Board-owned Tigers allowed the league to continue without the military-linked side.
In a letter this week to Senators Jeff Merkley and Marsha Blackburn, NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum cited the APR withdrawal as proof that the league adapts to shifts in US policy toward Rwanda. Tatum wrote that the NBA follows the lead of the US government in determining where it is appropriate to conduct international business, according to an ESPN report on the correspondence. The deputy commissioner added that APR would stay barred from BAL competition for the duration of the sanctions.
Merkley and Blackburn had pressed NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the league’s deepening ties with Rwanda, including President Paul Kagame’s attendance at the All-Star Game and Tatum’s own visit to a BAL investor summit in Kigali. In remarks to ESPN, Merkley said the NBA response was hard to reconcile with escalating US sanctions over Rwanda’s alleged fueling of conflict in Congo, where M23 has been accused of executing civilians, mass rape, child soldier recruitment and torture. The senators noted that Rwanda pays the NBA roughly $6 million to $7 million annually for partnership and marketing rights that include hosting BAL games and Visit Rwanda branding.
The sanctions and team withdrawal form part of a series of US actions this year that have also targeted a Rwandan gold refinery and imposed travel bans on officials, according to State Department statements. BAL, launched in 2021 as a partnership between the NBA and FIBA, has positioned Rwanda as a host for multiple conference stages, contributing to the country’s ambitions to become a continental sports hub. The NBA has maintained that its operations worldwide align with American policy, with Tatum emphasizing the league’s condemnation of human rights violations wherever they occur.
