The National Basketball Association (NBA) has officially disclosed the long-withheld reasoning behind its decision to exclude Rwanda’s army-founded Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) basketball club from the 2026 Basketball Africa League (BAL), confirming the move is a direct response to sweeping U.S. sanctions levied against Rwandan military entities earlier this year. The clarification came in a formal response to a bipartisan inquiry from two U.S. senators, who had raised sharp criticism of the league’s ongoing ties to Kigali over alleged human rights violations and regional destabilization.
U.S. legislators Senator Jeffrey Merkley, a Democrat, and Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, penned a letter dated October 23 that demanded the NBA justify its partnership framework with Rwanda, issuing a November 2 deadline for a written explanation of the league’s policies on collaborating with foreign governments accused of systemic human rights abuses. The pair warned the NBA risked being labeled complicit in “sportswashing” by maintaining ties to the Rwandan state, which U.S. authorities have accused of actively fueling the years-long violent insurgency in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through its support for the M23 rebel group. In a separate announcement last week, the U.S. government extended sanctions to cover Rwanda’s entire defense ministry over its documented backing of the M23 faction, which has seized swathes of territory in eastern DRC and displaced millions of civilians. Rwandan officials have repeatedly denied all allegations of supporting the M23 rebels, despite widespread independent evidence corroborating the claims.
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum confirmed in remarks first reported by sports outlet ESPN that APR has been formally removed from BAL competition, and the ban will remain in full effect for the duration of the active U.S. sanctions. APR, one of Rwanda’s most decorated domestic basketball sides, previously represented the nation in the 2024 and 2025 BAL seasons, securing a third-place finish in 2025 before being replaced by the RSSB Tigers for the 2026 tournament cycle.
The BAL, a landmark pan-African professional basketball competition co-founded by the NBA and international basketball governing body FIBA, has maintained a high-profile commercial partnership with Rwanda since its inaugural 2021 season. Kigali pays millions of dollars annually to secure official BAL partner status, and has hosted every BAL finals and playoff series except one at the 10,000-seat BK Arena in the Rwandan capital. DRC officials have for years publicly condemned Rwanda’s string of high-value international sports sponsorship deals – spanning partnerships with top European football clubs, Formula 1 events, and the NBA – arguing these agreements allow Kigali to rehabilitate its global public image while violence persists across eastern DRC.
Prior to the formal disclosure of the sanctions-linked ban, the NBA had only announced APR would not compete in the 2026 BAL season without offering a public rationale for the exclusion, leaving the decision open to widespread public and media speculation.
Rwanda’s army team removed from Africa league after US sanctions, NBA says
