Rubio was expected to arrive in Nairobi on April 28 as part of his first diplomatic tour of Africa since his appointment by President Donald Trump in January, State Department announced.

The visit was also set to include a stop in Ethiopia.

However, officials in Washington confirmed the trip has been called off at the eleventh hour, with no official reason given.

The cancellation comes just days after Kenyan President William Ruto returned from a high-profile five-day state visit to China, where he held talks with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, and National People’s Congress Chairman Zhao Leji.

Ruto’s trip, aimed at strengthening trade, investment, and infrastructure ties with Beijing, has sparked unease in Washington.

State House spokesperson Hussein Mohamed described the visit as a continuation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established in 2017, highlighting Kenya’s role as China’s leading partner in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Africa.

During the visit, Ruto openly criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, notably, condemned a recent U.S. vote at the UN Security Council that aligned with Russia—further straining relations with Washington.

Links to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) 

Concerns in Washington have also been fueled by Kenya’s recent decision to host Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Nairobi, as well as alleged support for rebel factions in eastern DRC.

Diplomats have privately expressed frustration with the Ruto administration’s regional posture.

Adding to the tension is the broader context of the Trump administration’s reported plan to close up to 10 U.S. embassies and 17 consulates worldwide, including several in Africa such as the Central African Republic, Congo, Eritrea, Gambia, Lesotho, and South Sudan.

Consulates in Douala (Cameroon) and Durban (South Africa) are also reportedly under review.

Troy Fitrell, the State Department’s top official for Africa, told reporters last week that U.S. diplomats on the continent have been instructed to prioritize support for American businesses and investment deals.

Sources also indicate that several U.S. companies, which had previously committed to multi-billion-dollar investments in Nairobi, have now pulled out, citing Kenya’s deteriorating corruption levels as a major deterrent.

The fallout has reportedly cost Kenya opportunities worth thousands of billions of shillings that were expected after Ruto’s White House visit last year.

Matters have further deteriorated with the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a major funding channel for Kenya, signaling a dramatic shift in U.S.-Kenya relations.

The Kenyan government has yet to issue an official statement on the cancellation.

However, criticism has been mounting on social media, with some Kenyans questioning the timing of Ruto’s China trip.

“President Ruto chose the worst time to visit China—during heightened U.S.-China tensions over tariffs. Today, he’s seen as a betrayer by his former ally, America,” wrote Steve Mbogo, a prominent commentator on X (formerly Twitter).

Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi told People’s Daily that Secretary Rubio’s cancellation likely stemmed from growing concerns over corruption and Kenya’s engagement with rebel groups in the region.

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The sanctions come amid an intensifying M23 rebel offensive, which has triggered a mass displacement of civilians into neighboring Burundi.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Treasury Department said Kabarebe, a former army chief, was being sanctioned for his “central role in Rwanda’s support” for the M23 armed group.

“James Kabarebe is central to his country’s support for M23,” the statement emphasized.

Also targeted was Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, a senior figure and spokesperson for the Congo River Alliance—which includes the M23—along with two companies he controls in the United Kingdom and France.

Kingston, a British national born in 1970, is an engineer who previously managed a company in London.

The Treasury Department stressed that the sanctioned individuals and entities were “linked to violence and human rights abuses” in the DRC.

“Today’s action underscores the need for Rwanda to return to negotiations under the Angola-led Luanda Process to achieve a resolution to the conflict in eastern DRC,” the statement read.

Rwanda has not immediately responded to the sanctions.

However, Kigali has consistently denied accusations from the United Nations, the U.S., and several other countries that it provides military support to the M23.

Rwanda, in turn, accuses the DRC of harboring the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group composed of Hutus who participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi.

The DRC government in Kinshasa claims Rwanda harbors “expansionist ambitions” and is exploiting Congolese mineral wealth. A recent UN report revealed that M23 rebels illicitly exported 150 tonnes of coltan to Rwanda in 2024.

Germany summons Rwanda ambassador 

Meanwhile, Germany announced on Thursday that it had summoned the Rwandan ambassador to Berlin in response to the M23’s territorial gains in eastern DRC.

“Backed by Rwanda, the M23 militia continues its offensive in eastern DRC. Rwanda must respect the integrity of the DRC and withdraw its troops,” Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said on the social media platform BlueSky. “We strongly condemn this violation of international law and have summoned the Rwandan ambassador.”

Berlin also urged Kinshasa to engage in dialogue with the M23 while acknowledging Rwanda’s “legitimate security concerns.”

The ongoing violence has resulted in the largest refugee influx into Burundi in 25 years. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported that approximately 30,000 people had fled the DRC into Burundi to escape the fighting.

“People are still pouring in by the thousands every day,” said Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, UNHCR’s representative in Burundi, during a Wednesday press briefing.

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The discussions come as the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized control of Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC, causing what the United Nations has described as “mass panic.” The Congolese government has called the insurgency a “declaration of war,” according to AP.

President Ruto also convened an emergency meeting of the East African Community (EAC) to address regional security concerns, emphasizing the need for a collaborative peace process with both regional and international support.

“I have spoken to President Emmanuel Macron of France on the situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.  He has expressed support for the regional efforts to deal with the challenge,” Ruto shared on X (formerly Twitter).

President Macron reaffirmed France’s commitment to supporting regional interventions and acknowledged Kenya’s role in peace initiatives, not only in DRC but also in Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan.

The capture of Goma by the M23 rebels followed a 48-hour ultimatum for the Congolese army to surrender their weapons.

The group announced the takeover in a statement, urging residents of the city to remain calm.

There has been no immediate response from the DRC government.

At an emergency UN Security Council meeting, the UN’s special representative for Congo highlighted the dire situation, stating, “With the airport shut down and roads blocked in the region’s humanitarian and security hub, we are trapped.”

The M23 offensive in this mineral-rich region poses a significant threat to regional stability and risks exacerbating one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts.

The humanitarian crisis in the area continues to deteriorate, with millions already displaced and further misery looming.

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Harerimana said most of the women she has assisted were raped while looking for food outside of their camp. She added that she had personally documented 19 cases of sexual assault in the first five months of 2023.

A ‘catastrophic’ number of cases

DRC has long topped lists of neglected humanitarian crises, but the situation has worsened significantly since the M23 – which is led by Congolese Tutsis and claims to be protecting the community against threats – re-emerged after a 10-year hiatus.

Up to 2.3 million people have been displaced in North Kivu since the conflict escalated around March 2022. Vast numbers are clustered around Goma – the provincial capital, and a hub for UN and NGO offices – and across the more remote Masisi territory.

Despite ballooning needs, the World Food Programme (WFP) currently has a funding gap of around $750 million. The agency has reached under a third of the 6.7 million acutely hungry people in the east so far this year.

When interviewed in April and May, displaced people told The New Humanitarian they had only received one distribution of food this year. Though local mutual aid groups are on hand in some camps, women said they have been leaving sites to ask for help in nearby farms or to gather firewood from forests, which they then sell for a small profit.

In recent months, reports of sexual assaults targeting these displaced women have reached a “catastrophic scale”, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which described the problem as a “medical and humanitarian emergency” in a May statement.

MSF said it cared for 674 victims in the last two weeks of April in the Goma area alone, amounting to roughly 48 patients a day in six of the camps where MSF works. The NGO told The New Humanitarian it also treated 123 rape cases in April, from its base in Masisi town.

“The figures are alarming, but we have to consider that many women do not look for healthcare, because they are afraid of being stigmatised by the community,” Alessandra Guidiceandrea, MSF’s head of mission, said from the capital, Kinshasa.

Hunt for food makes women vulnerable

Mwamini*, who is 27, told The New Humanitarian she escaped attacks by the M23 in a rural part of Masisi in January and arrived in Kalinga camp, which is perched on slopes surrounding Masisi town. By early May, she said she still had not received any food aid.

In April, Mwamini left the camp with four other women looking for food. It was early afternoon when about seven armed men appeared, wearing a mix of military uniforms and civilian clothes, Mwamini said. They beat the women with sticks. Two raped her.

Mwamini said she received treatment at an MSF-supported hospital in Masisi town and was also counselled by Harerimana, the camp-appointed protection officer.

A similar story was shared with The New Humanitarian by Kavira*, who fled her village in Masisi in January with her children. The family settled in Mahyutsa camp in the town of Sake, just to the west of Goma.

One day in May, Kavira left her camp to find food. She said she had only planned a short trip, but outside the camp she was attacked by two armed men who demanded sex and threatened her with weapons when she refused.

They covered her mouth, held her down, and raped her, she told The New Humanitarian. “They were tall, they wore uniforms, military uniforms”: This is all Kavira, who is 30, was able to recall.

Traumatised and in pain, she returned to her camp and sought out Picuna Mitutso, another volunteer protection officer who assists displaced women who have been sexually assaulted.

“She was in a bad, bad situation,” Mitutso said. “I stopped all that I was doing and immediately brought her to a nearby hospital.”

Later, Mitutso wrote Kavira’s name in a small notebook. Her handwritten accounts describe how two other women were raped after leaving the camp in March, and another three were raped in April, including a 16-year-old girl.

Continuing conflict

In an email to The New Humanitarian, WFP said it was attempting to “scale up and strengthen” its activities, but did not directly answer written questions about the links between the lack of food aid and sexual violence.

UNICEF says it is providing medical and psychosocial services in four camps in Goma, and has partnered with Heal Africa, a local hospital and foundation, to establish safe spaces for women and girls.

Still, such programmes do not tackle the lack of food and poor living conditions that displaced women blame for forcing them to venture into dangerous areas often multiple times over.

Attempts to resolve the M23 conflict are also falling short. M23 leaders say they will continue to fight until their grievances are heard, but the Congolese government appears unwilling to engage in a political dialogue.

Though an April ceasefire led the M23 to retreat from some of its holdings in Masisi and Rutshuru territories, the group has kept its administrative wing in vacated areas and continues to occupy the trading town of Bunagana, which is on the Ugandan border.

In the absence of reliable assistance for sexual violence survivors, Mitutso, the protection officer in Mahyutsa, said she would like support to open her own meeting space, so she can counsel women who have been assaulted safely and in private.

“I have been trained for this. It is my work.” Mitutso said, explaining that she had previously served as a sexual health adviser in her home village. “My community has chosen me.”

Mwamini, the survivor from Kalinga camp, said she worried about the possibility of future attacks. “I expect that this thing can just happen again,” she said, “I am afraid of going to the field to look for food.”

*Names have been changed to protect identities due to security reasons.

(Source: The New Humanitarian) 

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Around 9 a.m. on Friday, April 14, three Congolese National Intelligence Agency (ANR) agents arrested Bakuka, a reporter with the privately owned broadcaster Radio Mushauri, at his home in Kindu, the capital of DRC’s eastern Maniema province, according to a tweet by Kindu-based journalist Grace Mbambi and another local journalist who spoke to CPJ by phone and messaging app on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.

An ANR representative told that local journalist that Bakuka was accused of “spreading false rumors” in an article he wrote and shared in a WhatsApp group discussing security issues in Kindu. Reached by phone, the ANR director in Maniema province declined to provide his name or comment on Bakuka’s arrest.

Separately, on Monday, April 10, a prosecutor in the capital, Kinshasa, summoned and detained Kayiba, a reporter with the privately owned broadcaster Kin Actu TV and privately owned news website Reportage.cd, in connection to two tweets, according to a report by privately owned news website Actungolo and Kayiba’s lawyer, who spoke to CPJ by phone and messaging app on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.

“DRC authorities should immediately release and drop all investigations into the work of journalists Gustave Bakuka and Diègo Kayiba,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, from New York. “Too often journalists in the DRC are faced with legal harassment and the prospect of arrest for simply doing their jobs.”

Kayiba’s tweets, which CPJ reviewed before they were removed, were posted in March and alleged that Jules Alingete Key, head of the country’s General Inspectorate of Finance, had not been transparent with his personal spending and betrayed DRC President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi with his personal presidential ambitions.

In an April 4 statement shared with local media, the General Inspectorate of Finance said Alingete had not filed a complaint against Kayiba. CPJ’s calls to the prosecutor rang unanswered.

On April 13, Kayiba’s lawyer filed a request for the journalist’s provisional release, he said, adding that if rejected, the journalist risks being transferred from detention in the prosecutor’s office to prison.

Separately, on April 9, Jean-Calvin Mingashanga, the elected representative for the central city of Tshikapa, sent an audio message to Kabongo, a reporter with the privately owned Netic-news.net, and threatened him with arrest for publishing a “baseless article,” according to a report by his outlet and Kabongo, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

The April 7 article critiqued Mingashanga’s relationship with the minister of finance and his constituents.

Mingashanga told CPJ by phone that he remains outraged by Kabongo’s article, which discredited his reputation. He said he intends to “punish” the journalist and force him not to publish similar reports.

On March 27, ANR agents in Kindu arrested journalist John Ngongo Lomango over his reporting on security issues. Authorities released Ngongo unconditionally on March 29 but kept his phone with the intention of searching it, the journalist told CPJ.

Authorities have jailed journalist Patrick Lola in the central prison of Mbandaka since January 2022.

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