Announcement of Visa Restriction Policy Targeting Individuals Undermining Peace in the Great Lakes Region

The Department of State will impose visa restrictions on several senior Rwandan officials for fueling instability in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). By continuing to support M23 and violating the Washington Accords, these individuals are driving violence and undermining the stability of the entire Great Lakes Region.

The United States expects all parties to the Washington Accords to fully implement their commitments, including by the DRC immediately neutralizing the FDLR armed group and its associated groups and Rwanda withdrawing its troops and military equipment from the DRC. Only then will the immense economic potential of the Great Lakes region be realized. Individuals believed to be responsible for, complicit in, or directly or indirectly engaged in undermining or impeding a sustainable peace in the Great Lakes region will face consequences.

This visa restriction policy is pursuant to Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which authorizes the Secretary of State to render inadmissible any alien whose entry into the Unites States “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Certain family members may also be covered by these restrictions.