Since an armed rebel group backed by Rwandan troops launched a major offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo, professional cyclists have raced on lush Rwandan hills, John Legend performed a sold-out concert in the capital, Kigali, and entrepreneurs have gathered at a conference center for a financial technology convention.
Rwanda’s role in the war waged by the rebel group M23 has drawn criticism from the United States, China and the United Nations. But so far the strong words have done little to tarnish the country’s status as a premier destination for investors, tourists, athletes and celebrities.
In his first weeks in office, President Trump ended virtually all American foreign aid, cutting off development programs around the world and leaving the United States with one less negotiating tool when responding to conflicts. Now, with Mr. Trump attending to other crises and slashing government spending, experts say Rwanda is betting on its soft power and reputation as a security partner and investment hub in Africa to minimize the backlash to the offensive.
“Rwanda appears to have calculated that in this moment, the pressure will not be coordinated, and that it can weather the storm,” said Murithi Mutiga, the Africa director at the International Crisis Group.
“The United States is also asserting that it can expand its territory,” Mr. Mutiga added, referring to Mr. Trump’s claims that the United States would “get” Greenland. “It’s an era of strongmen, in which if you feel that you can assert yourself from a military perspective, it will be hard to draw back.”
Rwanda is often touted as one of Africa’s biggest recent success stories. Ravaged by a genocide that killed nearly a sixth of its population in 1994, it has since emerged as a top investment location in Africa.
The country has spent the last decade diversifying its trade relationships to decrease its dependence on the United States and other western partners. It has bought military drones from Turkey, and a Turkish company built Rwanda a stately convention center. Singapore helped redesign the capital. It is teaming up with Qatar to turn a future international airport into a travel hub in Africa.
Despite its involvement in a war in eastern Congo that has killed thousands in just the past few months, Rwanda has positioned itself as a reliable security partner in Africa, currently contributing the second-highest number of peacekeepers to the United Nations. Its soldiers help protect a $20 billion French gas project in Mozambique and have replaced French troops fighting rebels in the Central African Republic.
Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda for 25 years, worked with the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, which created the Basketball Africa League, to hold its annual playoffs in Kigali, bringing together some of the best teams on the continent. Top European soccer teams like Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Paris St.-Germain have sponsorship agreements with Visit Rwanda, the national tourism agency.
At the Tour of Rwanda last month, cycling teams from the United Arab Emirates, France, South Africa, Israel and elsewhere raced through Kigali and the green tropical farms and forests of Rwanda’s hilly countryside. Young urbanites snapped selfies and cheered while local farmers and children in school uniforms looked on.
The route also took the cyclists near the border with Congo, just miles away from Goma and Bukavu, where thousands died as M23 moved to capture the two cities earlier this year. Rwanda also has aspirations to organize a Formula 1 grand prix race and is set to host the World Cycling Championships in September — the first African country to do so.
Kigali’s image as a clean and orderly city has helped boost tourism — including $1,500-a-day excursions to see mountain gorillas in stunning national parks — that brought the country $620 million in 2023, according to Rwanda’s Development Board. But that image is increasingly at odds with the ongoing war in eastern Congo, critics say, and sanctions are piling up.
Germany and Britain have frozen some of their aid to Rwanda, though other European countries have been divided on a response to the invasion. Canada’s government has suspended some export activities. The United States has imposed sanctions on a Rwandan government minister and an M23 spokesman.
Analysts at S&P Global Ratings have warned that the conflict could hurt Rwanda’s infrastructure spending and tourism. After international donors withdrew support to Rwanda in the wake of an M23 offensive in 2012, the country’s growth dropped under 5 percent, down from 8.6 percent the year earlier.
Grants and infrastructure projects account for more than 7 percent of Rwanda’s economy, at about $1 billion, according to S&P Global Ratings. Before the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, Rwanda had received about $650 million in U.S. foreign assistance over the past five years, and more than $1.7 billion over the past decade.
Rwandan troops have been present in eastern Congo for years, but the latest offensive has posed the biggest threat to Congo in decades.
Mr. Kagame has denied backing M23 and has described the conflict near the border as a national security threat for his country. He has accused the Congolese authorities of providing a refuge to militias seeking to attack Rwanda — including hundreds of people he claims were involved in the Rwandan genocide.
Rwanda’s government officials didn’t reply to requests for an interview. Tite Batagazi, a Kigali-based political analyst who supports Mr. Kagame’s government, said “Congo has a domestic problem, but its leaders prefer focusing on a so-called Rwandan aggression.”
As Congo fails to mount a counteroffensive, it has tried to hit Rwanda in other ways. Its foreign minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, has urged the NBA and soccer teams to end their “bloodstained” sponsorship agreements with Rwanda.
“When you’re wearing a jersey of P.S.G., Arsenal or Bayern Munich, you’re very close to this crisis,” Ms. Wagner said in an interview. “Certainly the fans, the clubs’ owners, the players on the pitch do not stand for the kind of violence and human suffering we’re seeing in eastern Congo.”
John Legend performed in Kigali last month despite boycott calls. He later told the BBC, “I don’t believe that we should punish the people of Rwanda and punish the people of other countries when we disagree with their leaders.”
No sports organization has publicly responded to the calls for a boycott. Arsenal, one of Mr. Kagame’s favorite teams, didn’t respond to a meeting request from Ms. Wagner when she was in London in February, she said.
P.S.G. is owned by Qatar, a key ally of Rwanda: Qatar Airways and Rwanda are closing in on a partnership with the national airline, Rwandair, and investment in a new international airport outside Kigali.
At the financial technology conference in Kigali last month, entrepreneurs and executives pitched their latest mobile money solutions and grand plans for financial reforms in Africa.
In M23-controlled Congolese territories, however, local populations remain hobbled by cash shortages and bank closures.
