US sanctions Rwanda's defense force over support for M23 rebels in Congo

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The United States ‌on Monday imposed sanctions against Rwanda’s defense force and top military officials, the U.S. Treasury ​Department said, accusing Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group in eastern Congo, as fighting in the region continues.

“The Rwandan Defense Force is actively supporting, training, and fighting alongside the March 23 Movement (M23), a U.S.- and United Nations-sanctioned armed group responsible for human rights abuses and a mass displacement crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” a statement by the U.S. Treasury ​Department read.

Four individuals have been sanctioned, including Rwandan army chief of staff Vincent Nyakarundi and the chief of the defense staff.

Congo, the U.S. and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters, according to the U.N.

More than 100 armed groups are vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda, most prominently M23. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the U.N. agency for refugees.

Despite the signing of a deal between the Congolese and Rwandan governments brokered by the U.S. and ongoing negotiations between rebels and Congo, fighting continues on several fronts in eastern Congo, claiming numerous civilian and military casualties.

“The sanctions issued today by the United States — unjustly targeting only one party to the peace process — misrepresent the reality and distort the facts of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said in a statement Monday.

She accused Congo of violating the peace agreement by allegedly conducting “indiscriminate” drone attacks and ground offensives.

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Associated Press reporter Khaled Kazziha in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.

FILE - M23 rebels negotiate with Rwanda Army to release captured Romanian mercenaries to Rwanda Government, who were fighting alongside Democratic Republic of Congo army (FRDC), at Gisenyi border point in Congo, Jan. 29, 2025, after the M23 rebels advanced into eastern Congo's capital Goma. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, file)

NEW YORK (AP) — Robert De Niro will appear this week at Carnegie Hall, where he will recite excerpts from a Philip Glass opera about Abraham Lincoln that the composer once intended to stage at the Kennedy Center.

Glass announced in January that he called off a scheduled premiere of Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln,” in protest of President Donald Trump's ouster of the center's leadership.

Glass' symphony will be part of a benefit Tuesday night for Tibet House US, a nonprofit educational institution which announced the participation of De Niro, a prominent critic of Trump. Glass and Laurie Anderson are the evening's artistic directors.

“Lincoln” is based in part on one of Lincoln's earliest major speeches, the 1838 “Lyceum Address,” when the future president assailed mob violence and warned of its dangers to democracy.

“I am so pleased Robert De Niro is going to read the Lincoln speech,” Glass said in a statement. “He is absolutely the right person.”

Renée Fleming, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Bela Fleck are among the many other artists who have canceled Kennedy Center events.

Trump has renamed the facility as the Trump Kennedy Center, a change scholars say can only be enacted by Congress. The president, who has made the center a key part of his campaign against so-called “woke” culture, announced last month that the facility will be shut down in July for construction, a project he expects to last for two years.

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This story corrects name to Symphony No. 15.

Actor Robert De Niro speaks with a reporter during a rebuttal to President Donald Trump's State of the Union hosted by Defiance.org, the Portland Frog Brigade, and COURIER, at the National Press Club, in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)