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American sanctions on M23 networks target Gasabo Gold Refinery and its bosses
NEWS ANALYSIS | IAN KATUSIIME | The growing alliance between the U.S. and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is piling diplomatic pressure on Rwanda as U.S. sanctions mount on Rwanda-backed M23 and its networks.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted Gasabo Gold Refinery for illegally smuggling minerals from eastern DRC to Rwanda, according to an official statement from the Treasury Department.
OFAC has now blacklisted Gasabo Gold Refinery as the intermediary between M23 and the Rwandan government. In the released statement, the company is cited as “a key partner to Rwandan government officials and M23 rebels as they sourced and transported gold out of eastern DRC.”
The latest measures build on sanctions first imposed by Washington in February last year, when the U.S. Treasury designated Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Integration, James Kabarebe, accusing him of coordinating Rwanda’s support for M23 and facilitating the group’s exploitation of mineral resources in eastern DRC.
The U.S. also sanctioned M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka and two companies – a UK-registered company Kingston Fresh and French-registered mining consultancy Kingston Holdings are linked to him.
President Paul Kagame dismissed those sanctions, insisting that Rwanda’s security concerns along its border with the DRC could not be ignored.
He said Rwanda would continue to protect its national security interests and rejected accusations that Kigali was responsible for instability in eastern Congo, arguing instead that the international community had failed to address the threat posed by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group Rwanda says is linked to perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
“M23 and its backers exploit the DRC’s vast mineral resources — wealth that rightfully belongs to the Congolese people — to fund weapons, pay fighters, and sustain a destabilizing insurgency that has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis,” said Massad Boulos, U.S. Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs.
Boulos said the actions support implementation of the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity that were brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025.
The statement said the action reinforced commitment to implement a Regional Economic Integration Framework designed to expand trade and investment, strengthen transparency across critical minerals supply chains, and lay the foundation for greater long-term economic opportunity throughout the region.
“The United States will not allow rogue groups to profit from the illicit mineral trade and destabilize the region,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mineral wealth rightfully belongs to the Congolese people. Under President Trump’s leadership, we will continue to take decisive action against those who enable violence, exploitation, and attacks against the Congolese people.”
The new round of sanctions prompted pushback from Rwandan government officials, who say Rwanda and M23 are being unfairly targeted. Rwandan officials say there is continued collaboration between the DRC and the FDLR.
But DRC officials have welcomed the sanctions. “Having a gold refinery without any gold reserves in its subsoil,there is no better proof of plunder,” DRC government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said on X.
“A state, #Rwanda, that excels in the role of plunderer, middleman, and receiver of resources exploited amid massacres, rapes, and bloodshed. These sanctions have just broken a few links in the chain of state-sponsored theft.”
Muyaya said the sanctions were a reminder for the RDF to withdraw from the DRC. Rwanda has long faced questions about the source of its gold wealth since it is not known to have significant gold deposits, unlike its giant neighbour, with whom it has been at loggerheads for decades.
Rwanda has perennially been associated with the M23, a rebel group in eastern DRC that now controls large swathes of territory. In January 2025, the M23 captured Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC, changing the security landscape of the region.
The development signalled a new offensive by the M23, which was created in 2009 as a result of disagreements between the FARDC, the national army of the DRC, and the group representing the interests of Kinyarwanda-speaking communities.
M23 controls large portions of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, including Bukavu, Rutshuru, Sake, and Masisi. The group controls the mineral trade in the area, a factor that has fuelled its rise and expansion across the region.
Gasabo Gold sanctioned
Gasabo is the latest target of the alliance between the U.S. and DRC in the politics of the Great Lakes region. The US treasury reported that in RDF/M23-occupied areas in South Kivu, Rwandan government forces have exercised strict oversight of the gold until it reached Gasabo Gold.
“RDF soldiers and M23 rebels have ensured the safe transport of gold from M23-held areas to Rusizi District, Rwanda, immediately over the border from Bukavu, DRC to Gasabo Gold in Kigali, Rwanda, via ground or air transport. Upon reaching Gasabo Gold, RDF and M23 personnel have handed the gold over to Gasabo Gold personnel, who immediately began the gold refinement process.”
An estimated 60kg of gold worth millions of dollars was moved by the company in early 2026, according to U.S. Treasury estimates. Gasabo Gold has also been blacklisted by the European Union for illegally extracting and transporting gold from DR Congo.
The U.S. Treasury has named the individuals behind the company. “Jean Malic Kalima (Kalima) is the Chairman of Gasabo Gold, while Bosco Kayobotsi runs its day-to-day operations as General Manager,” the U.S. Treasury said.
“Kalima also controls the Rwandan mining companies Bugambira Mines LTD (Bugambira Mines), Wolfram Mining and Processing LTD (Wolfram Mining), and Rwinkwavu Mining Corporation LTD (Rwinkwavu Mining).”
The U.S. states that Gasabo Gold is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13413, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, M23.
“In addition, Gasabo Gold is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13413, as amended, for being responsible for or complicit in, or having engaged in, directly or indirectly, support to persons, including armed groups, involved in activities that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
The U.S. Treasury says the “RDF has introduced advanced military equipment to the battlefield in eastern DRC, including GPS jamming systems, air defence equipment, drones, and additional materiel. Thousands of RDF troops are deployed across eastern DRC, where they actively engage in combat operations and facilitate M23’s control of territory.”
The U.S. OFAC said that, with support from the RDF, M23 has engaged in extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and torture. The RDF reportedly carried out attacks against Congolese armed forces, the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC, and defensive positions of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC.“In exchange for its support for M23, Rwanda has gained access to mineral-rich areas of eastern DRC that contribute to the financing of M23’s armed rebellion.”
Under President Felix Tshisekedi, the DRC has struck a partnership with the U.S. under which it has opened access to its mineral wealth in exchange for security. Tshisekedi has strengthened ties with the U.S. during the Trump administration.
The relationship has been further boosted by the DRC’s participation at the World Cup—its first appearance in more than 50 years. While the tournament takes place in the U.S., Kinshasa appears to have won the war in Washington as sanctions rain down on Kigali and its proxies in eastern DRC.
Trump appointed Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman, to the role of U.S. Advisor on Africa, and events are moving quickly as the U.S. seeks a slice of the DRC’s mineral wealth.
U.S. company deals
U.S. companies have rushed to the DRC to sign mining deals. The DRC has one of the world’s largest reserves of critical minerals such as cobalt, copper, and coltan that are vital for smartphones, electric vehicles, aerospace manufacturing, and the green energy industry.
Virtus Minerals, KoBold Metals, and specialised investment consortia are the leading U.S. entities actively expanding into the DRC mineral sector. Historically dominated by Chinese state-owned enterprises, U.S. involvement has scaled up rapidly following recent diplomatic breakthroughs.
Virtus Minerals completed a major acquisition of the Congolese copper and cobalt producer Chemaf. Virtus holds 56 mining licences in the DRC and is focusing on reviving the major Étoile and Mutoshi production plants, aiming to secure future cobalt and copper supplies.
KoBold Metals is a California-based, AI-driven exploration company backed by high-profile tech billionaires such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. KoBold signed a sweeping exploration pact with the DRC government to digitise the nation’s geological data, secure exploration permits covering 1,600 square kilometres, and co-develop portions of the massive lithium deposit in Manono.
Groups of former U.S. military and intelligence officials have formed private consortia backed by Washington lobbying efforts to outbid rival foreign entities for critical mining assets, establishing key footholds in the Katanga copper-cobalt belt.
For its part, the U.S. has committed more than $1 billion to the Lobito Corridor rail project, a 1,300km railway stretching from the Angolan port of Lobito through the DRC and into Zambia’s Copperbelt.
The corridor acts as a logistical security blanket, creating a highly monitored, Western-backed transport route that moves copper and cobalt safely away from vulnerable eastern conflict zones and directly into international markets.
In addition, the U.S. is ramping up the pressure through sanctions on Rwanda’s armed forces and the M23—a group accused of committing rape, mass murder, crimes against humanity among others.
