Bayern Munich shifts away from 'Visit Rwanda' sponsorship after criticism
Bayern dismissed allegations of 'sportswashing' when it signed a five-year Rwanda deal in 2023. It included advertisements in the stadium and what Bayern called events 'to promote tourism and investment opportunities in Rwanda.'
At the time, it replaced a controversial sponsorship deal with Qatar. Rwanda has similar sponsorships with European soccer giants like Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid.
Some Bayern fans displayed a large banner at a game in February protesting the deal, amid accusations from the United Nations that Rwanda has backed rebels in neighboring Congo.
Now the German soccer champion says it's reached a new deal with Rwanda which turns the existing sponsorship deal into a three-year agreement focusing on developing young soccer players at a Bayern-affiliated academy in the country.
'In constructive talks about our future direction, we agreed that a very special part of our relationship with (the Rwanda Development Board) was the developmental nature of our work in Kigali through the FC Bayern Academy,' Bayern chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen said in a statement.
"We are therefore transforming our commercial partnership into a talent programme and expanding the FC Bayern Academy in (Rwanda's capital) Kigali together with the RDB as both a football and social initiative. This remains perfectly aligned to our strategic objective of developing playing talent in Africa.'
Bayern didn't specify how soon it would drop 'Visit Rwanda' branding as part of the move, which is described as a transition. As of Friday afternoon local time, the branding was still displayed under a section of the Bayern website listing club sponsors and partners.
The RDB's chief executive, Jean-Guy Afrika, was quoted by Bayern as saying the changes to the partnership aimed to 'accelerate sports development,' adding: "This continued partnership with FC Bayern helps ensure that talent development remains anchored in our broader vision to position Rwanda as a global hub for tourism, investment, and high-performance sport.'
Rwanda's presence in European soccer has grown steadily since 2018, when it first partnered with Arsenal to put 'Visit Rwanda' branding on the London club's shirt sleeves.
An agreement with PSG was signed in 2019 and renewed in April this year. It covers branding in the stadium and included shirt-sleeve sponsorship at the Club World Cup. A three-year deal to sponsor Atletico was agreed in April including branding on training and warm-up shirts.
Rwanda is accused of supporting the M23 rebel group, the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for dominance in mineral-rich eastern Congo just across the border with Rwanda. Rwanda also has been accused of exploiting eastern Congo's minerals, used in smartphones, advanced fighter jets and much more.
However, Rwandan authorities allege some of those who participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide fled into Congo and are either working with or are being protected by the Congolese army. They have denied involvement in Congo's minerals sector and said any security action taken is to protect its territory.
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The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Soaring demand at food banks across Africa thanks to massive aid cuts
Food banks across Africa have told The Independent that cuts to foreign aid – primarily by Donald Trump in the US, but including the UK – are helping to significantly drive up the number of people needing their help, while reducing the supplies they can hand out. Food Forward South Africa said that demand for its food services has soared since the start of the year and is expected to increase yet further as grants from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) run out in the coming months, while Food Banking Kenya has revealed that demand is up 300 per cent this year. In Nigeria, the Lagos Food Bank is another that is expecting shortages thanks to US aid cuts. 'The numbers we are seeing this year are absolutely huge. We thought numbers were big in other years, but this is completely unimaginable,' says John Gathungu, CEO of Food Banking Kenya. 'We are doing all we can to restrain people and discourage them from collecting food from us.' Food Banking Kenya also partners with the Kenyan Red Cross, another organisation impacted by aid cuts, which runs health and ambulance services around the country. The food bank is working to help patients with food deliveries that the Red Cross is unable to completely support – but is nonetheless struggling to meet demand, which has led to tragic consequences. 'There was one story where the Red Cross called our offices to say that there is a family in a certain area - a woman with three children - who were in a desperate situation after being unable to eat for three days,' says Gathungu. 'By the time our delivery driver arrived it was already too late - the woman had actually committed sucide... which was incredibly distressing for us.' Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria all took massive hits when USAID terminated more than 80 per cent of its contracts in May, worth an estimated $260 million, $224m, and $178m respectively. But it is not just decisions from Washington that are hitting government budgets in Sub-Saharan Africa: next year is set to mark the third consecutive year of decline in G7 aid spending, according to Oxfam, with the US (down $33 billion), the UK (down $5bn), Germany (down $3.5bn) and France (down $3bn) all significantly cutting overseas aid year-on-year. Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria have also all seen their public services and social security provision deteriorate as a result, with HIV services in South Africa and food aid in Nigeria particularly devastated. 'Suprised how many organisations relied on aid' Kenya is major agricultural economy that exports food all around the globe - but also faces major food insecurity challenges, with 46 per cent of people living on less than $3 a day, according to the Word Bank. Food insecurity struggles have been significantly heightened this year by aid cuts, according Gathungu, whose food bank last year provided more than 20 million meals across the country's five major cities, with food largely sourced from farm surpluses. Demand for the food bank's services has increased by more 300 per cent this year. says Gathungu, far outstripping what they are able to provide. Food Banking Kenya's office is now also receiving a constant flow of emails and phone calls from organisations looking to partner with them and when delivery trucks go to deliver food parcels to families, they now deliver with a specific list of recipients due to the situation being unmanageable otherwise, says Gathungu. It is not only from direct recipients of food aid where the food bank is seeing an impact: A number of charitable partners have been severely impacted by the cuts, and the food bank is doing what it can to fill the gap. 'I have been surprised just how many partners and projects relied on USAID for funding,' says Gathungu. For example, the Food Bank was due to partner with a company called Nature Lock to deliver school meals to 200 schools in informal settlements. Despite the fact that all the paperwork had already been signed, the stop-work order from USAID led to the entire deal being put on pause - until Food Banking Kenya moved to fill the gap with its own food and logistics operation. 'We could not just say to the 20,000 children who were going to receive food, that that simply was not going to happen any more,' says Gathungu. 'Worse to come' Elsewhere on the continent, Food Forward South Africa distributes 25m tonnes of food last year, making it the largest food banking organisation in Africa by some margin. The charity - which is sourced from farms, manufacturers, and supermarket - is based in Cape Town, but reaches hundreds of thousands of people in small, rural communities through programmes that include direct food assistance, nutrition services for mothers and babies, school breakfasts, and community kitchens for vulnerable groups. According to Food Forward's managing director, Andy DuPlessis, the charity has already seen an increase in demand this year –to the point where they have had to put a pause on all applications for new distribution partners. 'We normally get around 100 and 250 applications a month, but are currently getting 350 to 400 applications,' he says. In the coming months, DuPlessis believes that demand is set to increase by a further 10 to 20 per cent as USAID grants and redundancy payments begin to 'fizzle out', and more people begin to require their services. 'The cuts are phased out by September, and unemployment insurance is also running out, so we anticipate over the next year we will see a big increase in demand,' he says. Core drivers of demand, DuPlessis continues, include middle class individuals who have lost USAID-funded jobs and require financial support, as well as people suffering from chronic illnesses like HIV who are no longer able to work, or services that provide support for chronic illnesses that can no longer provide food off their own back. Even before the impact of aid cuts, some 55 per cent of South Africa's population lived below the poverty line, and around a quarter of households were severely food insecure - despite the fact that South Africa is a major food exporter, and produces more than enough food for its people to eat. The country's difficulties are set to increase yet further as a result of new tariffs from the Trump administration worth 30 per cent - a tax that puts up to 100,000 jobs at risk, according to authorities. In Nigeria, the Lagos Food Bank has been operating for 10 years now to bring food to communities in a country where millions are suffering from long-term food insecurity. Last year a team of 30,000 volunteers was able to feed some three million people by directing excess food from supermarkets and farms - but according to Michael Sunbola, executive director at the food bank, this was just a 'drop in the ocean'. Having suffered a significant funding hit due to Trump slashing USAID programmes, the organisation says that the aid cuts will only worsen a pattern that it is already seeing thanks to the country's chronic food insecurity and food inflation. 'The last year has seen the cost of living soar and people's disposable income plummet, pushing the middle classes into poverty and fueling demand for the food bank,' says Sunbola. 'We thought there was high demand during Covid – but what we are seeing right now is five times that,' says Sunbola. Food inflation in Nigeria currently stands at more than 30 per cent, as a result of weak harvests and low food stocks in the country. 'The last year has seen the cost of living soar and people's disposable income plummet, pushing the middle classes into poverty and fueling demand for the food bank,' says Sunbola. Aid cuts have, however, will impact food bank's ability to keep its services open, with international donor organisation also losing their own funding through USAID or other aid cuts. Earlier this year, two international partners pulled out from supporting the food bank, says Sunbola - but so far the food bank has largely been able to fill the gap by working with new corporate partners. Climate's compounding effect Climate change is also a key driver of Nigeria's food insecurity crisis, driving less regular rainfall patterns and prolonged dry seasons, says Sunbola. 'Agricultural yields, particularly in the Northern regions of Nigeria, are being seriously impacted,' Sunbola adds. 'Weak yields then have a major impact on food prices here in Lagos.' Meanwhile, South Africa is 'being hit by more and more extreme weather events like droughts and flooding - and when these happen we are often first responders on the scene with food supplies,' says DuPlessis. In fact, all three programmes also report how climate change is only increasing pressures on food systems. In Kenya, meanwhile, climate impacts have at times been so severe over the last few years that at times farmers themselves have had to be supplied with food support. 'Rains have become weaker, and much less predictable. Farmers' crops are failing and hunger is striking rural communities,' says Gathungu. 'in 2023 there were issues of having no rain, while in 2024 there were was too much rain and farms became flooded. Both years we have had to supply food to smallholder farmers who in previous years supplied food to us.' This article is part of The Independent's Rethinking Global Aid project If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@ or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to to find a helpline near you.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
De Beers announces kimberlite field discovery in Angola
Aug 12 (Reuters) - De Beers' joint venture in Angola has discovered a new kimberlite field, the most common source of mined diamonds, it said on Tuesday, its first such discovery in three decades. The Anglo American (AAL.L), opens new tab unit is jointly exploring for diamonds in Angola in partnership with the country's state-owned diamond company Endiama. De Beers said in a statement the joint venture had hit kimberlite in its first drill hole into a high-priority cluster of targets in July 2025. The company said further drilling, geophysical surveys and laboratory analysis will be conducted over the next few months to confirm the kimberlite type and assess its diamond potential. Kimberlites are a rare rock type that brings diamonds to the surface through volcanic eruptions. De Beers returned to Angola in 2022, having left a decade earlier after exploring unsuccessfully. The mining giant signed two mineral investment contracts with the government of Angola in April 2022, followed by agreements on diamond processing and exploration in 2024. Parent company Anglo American is divesting De Beers as part of its strategy to focus on its copper and iron ore assets. De Beers has drawn interest from at least six consortia, including commodities billionaire Anil Agarwal, Indian diamond firms, and Qatari investment funds, sources close to the companies told Reuters in June.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Kenyan activist tries to block new Ritz-Carlton safari lodge opening
MAASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE, Kenya, Aug 12 (Reuters) - When Ritz-Carlton opens its first safari lodge on Friday in Kenya's Maasai Mara reserve, guests will pay nightly rates starting from $3,500 per person for tented suites with private decks overlooking a river crossed by migrating wildebeest. But the director of a Maasai conservation institute and researchers say the true cost of those sublime views will run much higher by damaging one of the world's most renowned ecosystems. On Tuesday, Meitamei Olol Dapash from the Institute for Maasai Education, Research and Conservation (MERC) filed a lawsuit in a Kenyan court against Ritz-Carlton, its owner Marriott (MAR.O), opens new tab, the project's local developer Lazizi Mara Limited and Kenyan authorities to try to block the scheduled opening. Dapash alleges in the lawsuit that the 20-suite camp, which boasts plunge pools and personalised butler service, obstructs a crucial migration corridor between Maasai Mara and Tanzania's Serengeti. Researchers say migration allows wildebeest to find food and maintain genetic diversity among herds. The lawsuit also says there is no evidence an environmental impact assessment was conducted. Dapash's lawyers asked the Environment and Land Court in Narok to suspend the lodge's opening and hear the case on a priority basis. Marriott, which entered into a franchise agreement with Lazizi, said in a statement it was committed to respecting the environment and that Lazizi had obtained all necessary approvals. Lazizi's managing director, Shivan Patel, said Kenyan authorities conducted an environmental impact assessment, which had established that the site was not a wildlife crossing point. The Narok County government and National Environment Management Authority, which are also named as respondents in the lawsuit, did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The dispute is the latest flashpoint in East Africa's grasslands between luxury tourism and Maasai herders who say that the sector's development is harming their habitats and ways of life. In Kenya, local communities have complained about what they say are land grabs by wealthy investors. In Tanzania, protests against the eviction of tens of thousands of Maasai to make way for hunting lodges have led to deadly clashes with police. Dapash, who founded MERC in 1997 as a grassroots network of Maasai leaders, said the Ritz-Carlton's development was the latest in a long list of lucrative tourism projects that government officials have green-lighted at the expense of local wildlife and people. "Without the county government regulating the tourist behaviours, the tourist activities, we saw the habitat, the environment degraded so badly," he told Reuters. County officials have acknowledged that over-tourism has harmed Maasai Mara's natural environment but have said that focusing on "high-value tourism" can help address this by bringing in more money at less environmental cost. Announcing the new Ritz-Carlton in February, Marriott said it would offer a "front-row seat" to the annual Great Migration of millions of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles. The lodge lies along the Sand River, an important water source for animals from elephants to birds, that snakes back-and-forth across the border between Kenya and Tanzania. Hotel staff declined to let Reuters reporters enter the property. Dapash, who is a PhD candidate in sustainability education at Prescott College in the United States and has run unsuccessfully for parliament several times, said the lodge sits on a wildebeest crossing point well-known to locals. Joseph Ogutu, a Kenyan researcher at the University of Hohenheim in Germany who has studied wildlife migration in Maasai Mara, said the new construction would deal a further blow to fauna in the reserve. Many species' populations in the reserve have shrunk by over 80% since the 1970s, according to Kenyan government data. "It is highly ill-advised to build a lodge on one of the most critical paths of the Great Migration," he said. Grant Hopcraft, an ecologist at the University of Glasgow, said the project would "likely have large and long-term ecological implications for the migration". Neither Hopcraft nor Ogutu are party to the lawsuit. Lazizi's Patel said it was the county government that proposed the site to him. And he questioned why Dapash had only started raising objections to the project in recent weeks. "The project has been ongoing for a year," he told Reuters. "We pushed it so hard to ... avoid any disruption, damage to the environment." Dapash said he only learned of the project in May because it is far from the main population centre. The lawsuit questions whether a required environmental impact assessment was ever conducted. Under Kenyan law, the National Environment Management Authority must publish a summary of the assessment in the official gazette indicating where it may be inspected. Reuters could not find any such notice in the official gazette. Patel said he could not share the assessment for confidentiality reasons and referred Reuters to NEMA. NEMA did not respond to requests for comment. The lawsuit also says the project violated a management plan for Maasai Mara adopted by the Narok County government in February 2023, which calls for "no new tourism accommodation developments" before 2032. Patel disputed this, saying the project was built at an "existing" site that had already been in use for many years. He did not say how it had been used. Narok County did not respond to requests for comment. Dapash said the public needed answers. "The preservation of wildlife migration for us is a treasure that we cannot afford to lose," he said. "We need to see that due diligence was done."
