Human rights organisation Amnesty International has accused Formula 1 of handing Rwanda a “sportswashing prize” with its 10-year African Grand Prix deal.
On Tuesday it was announced that F1 will return to Africa in the early 2030s as part of a 10-year deal with Rwanda. The African Grand Prix is set to be held on a new, purpose-build circuit in Bugesera, some 40km south of the capital Kigali.
It is set to mark F1’s return to the continent for the first time since the 1993 South African Grand Prix.
But the deal is not without controversy, with opposition coming from human rights groups accusing Rwanda of sportswashing.
The proposed purpose-built circuit in Bugesera
A spokesperson for F1 was quoted by the BBC as saying: "We have the opportunity to inspire and bring the passion of F1 to 100 million people across Africa and sport can be a positive force for good.”
However, Felix James, Amnesty International UK’s head of campaigns, said: "A 10-year Grand Prix 'presented by Visit Rwanda' is a sportswashing prize for the Rwandan authorities.
"Arsenal, Aston Villa, the cycling world championships and now Formula 1 - Rwanda is buying into the world's biggest sports to polish its image and deflect from its appalling human rights record.
"Formula 1 says sport can be 'a positive force for good'. That rings hollow if F1 shrugs off who it is partnering with.
“Rwanda's authorities are prolific in arbitrary detention, torture and the repression of free speech – these are abuses at home.”
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The United Nations (UN) has accused the Rwandan government of backing the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to an UN report in September last year, the M23 had “engaged in a campaign of intimidation and violent repression through a recurrent pattern of summary executions, torture, detention, enforced disappearances and forced recruitment.”
Its members had have been accused of “systematically” carrying out “widespread sexual violence, mainly in the form of gang rape, and other forms of sexual violence, including sexual slavery.”
The UN imposed sanctions on Rwanda earlier this year, while the UK government suspended aid for the country last February.
Former UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Rwanda received about £32m of bilateral aid from the UK every year before the sanctions were imposed.
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