Two U.S. senators have called on the NBA to reevaluate its partnership with Rwanda and its leader, Paul Kagame, citing a shift in American government policy toward the small African nation, which has been accused of widespread human rights abuses.
In a letter sent Friday to commissioner Adam Silver, Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote that they are “increasingly alarmed by the NBA’s deepening relationship with Rwanda.” They said the league “risks becoming complicit in sportswashing,” a practice in which governments or companies use sports to distract from human rights abuses, corruption and other activities. The senators added that the partnership is “contrary to the spirit of American sports.”
In a statement, NBA spokesman Mike Bass said, “We received the letter on Friday and are in the process of responding to it.”
A Partnership Under Growing Scrutiny
The same senators wrote to Silver two years ago in response to an earlier report that detailed the NBA’s embrace of Kagame, who has led the country since 1994. Rwanda, one of the poorest countries in the world, built a 10,000-seat arena in its capital of Kigali, and that facility has been central to the NBA’s expansion into Africa.
The U.S., the UK and other countries, along with a string of human rights organizations, have accused Kagame’s government of abuses ranging from imprisonment, torture and murder of political opponents to funding child soldiers in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Last week, Robert Kabera, a former Rwandan soldier who became an outspoken critic of Kagame and had fled the country in 2020, was found beheaded in Uganda. Human rights organizations have called for an investigation into whether the killing was politically motivated.
The NBA’s Position
NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum has defended the league’s position both in comments to the media and in a letter to the senators two years ago. He said the league has “[followed] the lead of the U.S. government as to where it is appropriate to engage in business around the world.”
“If American policies were to change regarding business activities in and relating to Rwanda … our actions would of course change accordingly,” Tatum wrote to the senators in 2024.
The senators now argue that the policies of the U.S., the UK and other European nations have “shifted markedly” toward Rwanda. They pointed to Rwanda’s role in fomenting the conflict in the DRC, including its deployment of 18,000 troops and its command of the M23, a rebel group “which has summarily executed hundreds of civilians, committed mass rape, recruited child soldiers, and tortured civilians.”
The letter closes with a series of questions for the league. The first asks: “What is the NBA’s red line for accepting money from foreign governments that commit human rights abuses?”
Sports as a National Strategy
Kagame has said his country uses sports to bolster its economy and its standing on the world stage. This month, Rwanda signed a 10-year deal to bring Formula 1 racing back to Africa, with the country expected to host its first race early in the next decade.
A year ago, the NBA’s LA Clippers and the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams announced multiyear deals under which the Rwandan government would pay the teams. “Visit Rwanda,” the marketing slogan of the Rwanda Development Board, became the exclusive jersey patch for the Clippers, and the slogan is advertised at the Rams’ home, SoFi Stadium.
The NBA launched a league in Africa in 2021, and its business there was valued at nearly $1 billion five years ago. Rwanda pays the NBA $6 million to $7 million per year to host some of the Basketball Africa League championships, display “Team Rwanda” on jerseys and pursue other marketing ties.
Early last year, the DRC called on the NBA, Formula 1 and major international soccer clubs to end their multimillion-dollar partnerships with Rwanda. At the time, an F1 spokesman wrote in an email: “We have been closely monitoring the developments relating to the DRC and Rwanda and continue to do so. We assess any potential request in detail and any future decisions would be based on the full information and what is in the best interests of our sport and our values.”
Months later, amid pressure from fans and the media, Bayern Munich and Arsenal announced they were ending their multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals with Rwanda.