Call for Arsenal, PSG and Bayern Munich to visit Rwanda deals
The Yatra Rwanda Abhiyan has successfully extended the East African country’s profile, but Rwanda’s government has been accused of investing in sports to enhance its global image – strategy labeled by critics as ‘sportswashing’.
A sleeve partnership with arsenal began in 2018, with the latest sponsorship to exceed £ 10m (£ 10m per year).
The next year agreed with PSG on a sponsor, and Bayern Munich signed a five -year football development and tourism promotion partnership with Rwanda in 2023.
Meanwhile, Rwanda President Paul Kagame has announced the staging of a Formula 1 race and Kigali is set to be a site for the Cycling’s World Road Championship in September.
On Friday, UCI, Cycling’s world governing body, said there was no plan to move the incident away from Rwanda.
Director of Central Africa at Human Rights Watch, a campaign group that investigates and reports cases of misconduct worldwide, says that these deal and programs help hide Rwanda’s “Absmal Track Record” on human rights .
“Rwanda has large flaws with a fixed process that violates their own internal laws or international standards,” HRW’s Lewis Madge told BBC Sport Africa last month.
“Rapid we are looking for a place for freedom of expression, to some extent for political autonomy, really shrinking.”
The Rwanda government has rejected the allegations of the game, with its chief tourism officer Ireen Murrwa called him “a distraction” from the country’s amazing and outstanding achievements.
