NBA Stands by Rwanda Partnership, Telling Senators It Follows US Government Policy

The NBA has told two United States senators it is not walking away from its relationship with Rwanda. In a letter from deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, the league answered Senators Jeff Merkley and Marsha Blackburn, who had urged it to rethink its deepening ties with Kigali. Tatum said the league's approach to doing business abroad rests on one principle: it takes its cue from United States government policy. The senators had said they were increasingly alarmed by the league's ties with Rwanda, and Washington announced fresh sanctions last week over Rwanda's alleged backing of the M23 rebel group in eastern DR Congo. Earlier this year, Washington imposed economic sanctions on the Rwanda Defence Force, and the military-funded APR team was withdrawn from the Basketball Africa League as a result. Despite that, the NBA said its plans remain unchanged, with the 10,000-seat BK Arena in Kigali still central to its African operations and the Basketball Africa League still welcome there. The exchange underlines the tension between the league's commercial ambitions on the continent and the political scrutiny those ambitions now attract in Washington.