A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Rwanda is widely held to be backing the M23 rebel group. They've taken over much of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the last two months. Rwanda, though, denies that. But the DRC wants organizations around the world to break ties with Rwanda. Here's NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu.
EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: Rwanda has emerged to show a different face to the world after over 30 years of rebuilding and progress since the profound horrors of the 1994 genocide.
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MASAI UJIRI: This is amazing. Wow. Rwanda, Rwanda, I love you, Rwanda.
AKINWOTU: Masai Ujiri, president of the Toronto Raptors basketball team, on a visit to Rwanda, celebrating it as a premier destination and partner in Africa.
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UJIRI: I love you, President Kagame. You are a friend. You are unbelievable. Yes.
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UJIRI: I don't care what the world says. We keep marching.
AKINWOTU: Many like Ujiri have praised President Paul Kagame for transforming Rwanda to a nation on the rise.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Rwanda, stand up.
AKINWOTU: The country's partnership with the NBA is just one of many in the sports world alone. But these partnerships have come under scrutiny as criticism of Rwanda grows.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: NBA Academy Africa is coming to Kigali.
AKINWOTU: The DRC has accused Rwanda of invading the east of the country and exploiting its minerals through a joint offensive with the M23 rebel group. Congolese officials say the M23 has killed more than 7,000 people since January, a figure that is impossible to independently verify.
YOLANDE MAKOLO: I think the politicization of our sports partnership is unjustified and wrong.
AKINWOTU: Yolande Makolo is a spokeswoman for the Rwandan government. Visit Rwanda, a company funded by the government, promotes tourism to Rwanda and sponsors Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Arsenal, some of the biggest soccer clubs in the world. But all three clubs have faced calls to suspend their deals.
MAKOLO: It's blackmail. And we're going to, well, challenge this and fight back.
AKINWOTU: Rwanda has accused the DRC of not doing enough to isolate and prosecute Hutu militias responsible for the 1994 genocide, where almost 1 million - mostly Tutsis - were killed. Many Hutu militias then fled across the border to DRC. Rwanda says it's defending Tutsi minorities, and it's denied backing the M23. But widespread evidence from U.N. experts and governments, including the U.S., has meant few believe them. Here's Makolo again.
MAKOLO: I don't think our partners should bow to this pressure because we're doing very good work together. I mean, as Africans, we're trying to grow economies so we can be less dependent on aid.
AKINWOTU: Last month, the U.S. sanctioned James Kabarebe, a minister in Rwanda's government, for orchestrating Rwandan support for M23 and generating revenue from DRC's minerals. And on Monday, the European Union sanctioned a Rwandan gold refinery and several Rwandan military officials and M23 fighters.
JASON STEARNS: Rwanda's most important export is its reputation.
AKINWOTU: Jason Stearns is a senior fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. He said the pressure on Rwanda is growing but hasn't come close to what the country faced in the past. The U.S. completely cut development aid following a similar offensive by M23 more than a decade ago.
STEARNS: Then there was much, much stiffer pressure on Rwanda brought to bear by the donor community.
AKINWOTU: But Rwanda has become an important partner to Western countries since then, including by providing military support for peacekeeping missions in places like Mozambique.
STEARNS: Rwanda has been able to make itself needed. I think that's one of the reasons that donor countries have been so reluctant to crack down on what nobody is questioning really is massive Rwandan intervention in eastern DRC.
AKINWOTU: So for now, Rwanda's attraction to international organizations and governments alike appears to be shielding it from harsher sanctions, all while the M23 advances and millions in eastern DRC continue to pay the price.
Emmanuel Akinwotu, NPR News, Lagos.
(SOUNDBITE OF LISA GERMANO'S "PHANTOM LOVE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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