Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner issued her formal statement last Thursday, two days after Rwandan President Paul Kagame stood alongside F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali and FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem in Kigali to unveil a 10-year deal for an African Grand Prix.

The DRC’s foreign minister wants Liberty Media’s sport to produce evidence that the race money is clean.

“This is also an opportunity for F1 to show its audiences and supporters what the sport truly stands for. It should require credible, independent guarantees that no money used to host the race comes from conflict-linked minerals or the exploitation of Congolese resources,” she said.

Kayikwamba Wagner also disclosed that she had privately raised the issue with F1 months before the Rwanda deal was signed.

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“In February 2025, I warned Stefano Domenicali and the F1 authorities that allowing Rwanda to host a Grand Prix would be morally indefensible,” she said.

Her attack on Kagame was unusually direct for a sitting foreign minister.

“The DRC welcomes Formula 1’s return to Africa, but giving Paul Kagame this platform would help polish the image of an authoritarian leader whose government has helped fuel a devastating war in our country,” she said.

Kinshasa is backing South Africa’s rival bid for the race instead.

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An ICJ case and US sanctions behind the complaint

The statement does not sit in isolation. On June 26, 2026 the DRC filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice, invoking four treaties: the Genocide Convention, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention against Torture. The application covers alleged abuses from 1996 onward and asks the court to order Rwanda to stop and to pay reparations.

Washington has already acted. On March 2, 2026 the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Rwanda Defence Force and four senior commanders, including army chief of staff Maj. Gen. Vincent Nyakarundi and chief of defense staff Gen. Mubarakh Muganga, over support for the M23 armed group in eastern Congo. The Treasury said the Rwandan military “is actively supporting, training, and fighting alongside” M23. Rwanda rejected the sanctions as one-sided.

M23 and Rwandan forces had captured the eastern Congolese city of Uvira on December 10, 2025, days after Kagame and his Congolese counterpart signed a US-brokered peace agreement in Washington.

F1’s response did not address the mineral demand

F1’s reply skirted the conflict-minerals question.

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“When racing around the world, we ensure the exceptional standards, values and integrity of the sport are shared and delivered by both promoters and partners,” the series said in a statement, adding that “sport can be a positive force for good.”

Domenicali had framed the Kigali announcement as a historic step.

“Today is a landmark moment for Formula 1. With Rwanda joining the calendar from the next decade, our sport will race in every inhabited continent,” he said.

The circuit, designed by Alexander Wurz’s firm, is to be built near Bugesera international airport, around 40 km south of Kigali. The 10-year deal takes F1 back to the African continent for the first time since 1993; the first race is scheduled for the early 2030s.

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