{"id":2000131235,"date":"2026-11-04T11:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000131235"},"modified":"2026-11-04T11:27:46","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:27:46","slug":"nba-stands-by-rwanda-partnership-despite-concerns-raised-by-us-senators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/nba-stands-by-rwanda-partnership-despite-concerns-raised-by-us-senators\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA stands by Rwanda partnership despite concerns raised by US senators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The position was communicated by NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum in a letter to Senators Jeff Merkley, a Democrat representing Oregon, and Marsha Blackburn, a Republican representing Tennessee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senators had raised concerns about the NBA’s partnership with Rwanda, citing allegations of human rights violations and war crimes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also accused Rwanda of using sports to improve its international image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their letter, the senators said they were “increasingly alarmed” by the partnership and urged the NBA to reconsider its relationship with Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the NBA said its international operations follow US government policy and that it adjusts its activities in accordance with Washington’s decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In all instances, we follow US policy,” Tatum said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also explained that the league’s international operations vary depending on the circumstances in each country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NBA has a partnership with Rwanda that has seen Kigali host Basketball Africa League (BAL) games at BK Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the concerns raised by the senators, the NBA said it would continue adjusting its operations in line with US policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
RSSB are the reigning BAL champions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has rejected calls by two US senators to reconsider its partnership with Rwanda, saying it will continue operating in line with US government policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000131237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"archived_slugs":[],"footnotes":"","igh_game_id":0},"categories":[11],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000131235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8,"twitter_handle":""}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8,"twitter_handle":""}],"featured_image":{"id":2000131237,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/2026-BAL-Finals-Trophy-Celebration-scaled-e1780263684741.jpg","alt":"","caption":"RSSB are the reigning BAL champions.","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1920,"height":1082,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/2026-BAL-Finals-Trophy-Celebration-scaled-e1780263684741-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/2026-BAL-Finals-Trophy-Celebration-scaled-e1780263684741-300x169.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/2026-BAL-Finals-Trophy-Celebration-scaled-e1780263684741-768x433.jpg","width":768,"height":433},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/2026-BAL-Finals-Trophy-Celebration-scaled-e1780263684741-1024x577.jpg","width":1024,"height":577},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/11\/2026-BAL-Finals-Trophy-Celebration-scaled-e1780263684741.jpg","width":1920,"height":1082}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000131235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000131235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000131235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000131238,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000131235\/revisions\/2000131238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000131237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000131235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000131235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000131235"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000131235"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000131235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}