Rwanda National Congress Welcomes U.S. Sanctions On Gasabo Gold Refinery Executives

PORTLAND, ME, June 26th, 2026 – The Rwanda National Congress (RNC) fully endorses the decisive action taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to sanction key architects of the Rwandan-backed mineral smuggling network.

On June 25th, 2026, OFAC blacklisted an illicit network collaborating with the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group. This network orchestrates illegal mineral smuggling from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) into Rwanda.

The Sanctioned Individuals and Entities

The targeted individuals represent the core operational leadership of Gasabo Gold Refinery:

Jean Malic Kalima: Chairman of Gasabo Gold Refinery. OFAC also identified him as controlling several mining companies, including:

• Bugambira Mines Ltd
• Wolfram Mining and Processing Ltd, and
• Rwinkwavu Mining Corporation Ltd

Bosco Kayobotsi: General Manager of Gasabo Gold Refinery, responsible for overseeing its day-to- day operations

Scale of the Illicit Operations

U.S. authorities uncovered massive financial and material smuggling operations running directly through this network:

• At least 60 kilograms of gold were smuggled from the eastern DRC to Gasabo Gold in early 2026 alone.
• The smuggled gold is valued at millions of U.S. dollars in revenue, directly fuelling instability and conflict in Eastern DRC.

The Faces Behind the Exploitation

Rwanda National Congress believes these sanctions expose the close relationship between Rwanda’s political leadership, military interests, and the commercial structures that have benefited from the exploitation of eastern DRC’s mineral resources:

• Jean Malic Kalima: A veteran Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) cadre and former Head of State Protocol (1994–2004). He is a trusted regime loyalist placed to control Rwanda's mining sector and manage the laundering of blood minerals.
• Bosco Kayobotsi: A regime insider and technocrat deployed to steer Gasabo Gold’s operations, systematically whitewashing stolen Congolese mineral wealth to align with Kigali's strategic interests.

The RNC has consistently argued that the exploitation of Congolese minerals is not the work of isolated private actors but forms part of a broader system that has financed conflict and prolonged instability in the Great Lakes region.

By targeting both the leadership of Gasabo Gold Refinery and the wider corporate network associated with it, the United States has taken an important step toward disrupting the financial infrastructure that has enabled the continued illegal exploitation of eastern DRC.

Call for Continued International Action

By directly targeting Kalima and Kayobotsi, the U.S. government is confronting the financial heart of the Rwandan regime. This action strips away the facade of an independent private sector, exposing the state-sponsored military-economic apparatus engineered to plunder the eastern DRC.

The RNC applauds this vital step toward cutting off the financial lifelines that sustain violence in the Great Lakes region and calls for continued international pressure on the architects of this crisis.

About the Rwanda National Congress:

The Rwanda National Congress (RNC) is a political organization dedicated to promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Rwanda, the broader Great Lakes region, and overseas.