Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who was in London this week to raise concerns over Rwanda’s support for the M23 militia, said she attempted to meet Arsenal officials to discuss the club’s Visit Rwanda sponsorship deal.
Arsenal’s deal with Visit Rwanda began in May 2018, when it signed a three-year deal with the Rwanda Development Board, followed by another in 2021.
Arsenal Football Club has been accused of delivering an “outrageous” snub to the Congolese government by not meeting the foreign minister to discuss its sponsorship deal with Rwanda.
Part of the deal has seen past and present Arsenal players visit Rwanda, most notably during August 2022 when the club published footage on its channels of Ray Parlour and Robert Pires’ trip.
Before Wagner arrived in London she urged the owners of Arsenal to end what she called its “bloodstained” deal with Visit Rwanda.
