The appeal comes as M23 rebels captured Goma, the largest city in eastern DR Congo, while the United Nations’ refugee agency estimates more than 400,000 people have been forced from their homes this year.

A group of UN experts maintains the Rwandan army is in “de facto control of M23 operations”.

DR Congo’s Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner has written to the owners of Arsenal and PSG and to Bayern president Herbert Hainer to “question the morality” of the deals.

She highlighted how Visit Rwanda’s sponsorship could be funded by the illicit mining of blood minerals in the occupied parts of DR Congo, before being transported across the border and exported from Rwanda.

In her letter to Arsenal, Kayikwamba Wagner stated that Rwanda’s “culpability” for the ongoing conflict “has become incontrovertible” after the UN reported that 4,000 Rwandan troops are active in the DRC.

“It is time Arsenal ended its blood-stained sponsorship deals with this oppressor nation. If not for your own consciences, then the clubs should do it for the victims of Rwandan aggression,” she wrote.

Arsenal, PSG, Bayern Munich and Visit Rwanda have been contacted for comment.

The Visit Rwanda campaign has successfully raised the east African country’s profile but Rwanda’s government has been accused of investing in sport to enhance its global image – a strategy labelled by critics as ‘sportswashing’.

A sleeve partnership with Arsenal began in 2018, with the latest sponsorship reported to be worth more than £10m ($12.39 million) per year.

A sponsorship with PSG was agreed the following year, and Bayern Munich signed a five-year football development and tourism promotion partnership with Rwanda in 2023.

Meanwhile, Rwanda President Paul Kagame has announced a bid to stage a Formula 1 race and Kigali is set to be the venue for cycling’s World Road Championships in September.

On Friday the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, said there were no plans to relocate the event away from Rwanda.

The Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, a campaign group which investigates and reports on cases of abuse around the globe, says these deals and events help hide Rwanda’s “abysmal track record” on human rights.

“Rwanda has major flaws with due process which violate its own internal laws or international standards,” HRW’s Lewis Mudge told BBC Sport Africa last month.

“Increasingly we’re seeing the space for freedom of expression, for some degree of political autonomy, is actually shrinking.”

The Rwandan government has dismissed accusations of sportswashing, with its chief tourism officer Irene Murerwa calling them “a distraction” from the “amazing and outstanding achievements the country has made”.

The UN says at least 700 people have been killed in intense fighting in Goma since Sunday.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said 2,800 people have been injured, as M23 rebels – backed by Rwanda – captured the capital of North Kivu province.

The rebels are now reported to be moving south towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu.

The conflict in eastern DR Congo dates back to the 1990s but has rapidly escalated in recent weeks.

M23, which is made up of ethnic Tutsis, say they are fighting for minority rights, while DR Congo’s government says the Rwanda-backed rebels are seeking control of the eastern region’s vast mineral wealth.

Authorities in Kigali have denied direct military involvement in the conflict, insisting its troops are only stationed along the border to protect its territory and civilians.

The well-armed M23 is often accused of being a Rwandan proxy force, but the UN experts have put forward evidence to suggest that it also has Uganda’s support.

Uganda has denied the allegations in the UN report that also accuses Rwanda of having up to 4,000 troops in DR Congo fighting alongside the rebels.

In response, Rwanda did not deny the allegation and told the BBC the DR Congo government lacked the political will to resolve the crisis in its mineral-rich east, which has witnessed decades of unrest.

The UN experts said that Rwandan troops were “matching if not surpassing” the number of M23 fighters, thought to be at around 3,000 in mid-April, on Congolese soil.

Rwanda has long been angered by the presence of ethnic Hutu rebels, known as the FDLR, in eastern DR Congo – joint operations in the past have failed to eliminate them.

The group’s leaders are accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

The Tutsi-led M23 first emerged with great ferocity in 2012, only to be defeated the following year with the help of a multinational force when most of its fighters fled to camps in Rwanda and Uganda.

They began to rearm three years ago and the group now controls swathes of territory in the North Kivu province, where the UN report says M23 has installed a parallel administration.

Three million people are estimated to have fled their homes because of the fighting.

The UN experts’ 293-page report, which covers events up until mid-April, has just been published – but it was first handed to the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee and then sent to the UN Security Council last month.

Their report also warned that Burundi’s military had been involved in operations with the Congolese army against the M23 and Rwandan soldiers, exacerbating regional tensions.

DR Congo’s Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said she was concerned by the allegations of collusion between the Uganda army, M23 and Rwandan military.

She said the issue would be taken up with Uganda with whom DR Congo has been involved in a joint offensive against another rebel group, the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which attacks both countries.

But the UN report said it was likely that Uganda was allowing M23 supplies and new recruits through its territory.

“Since the resurgence of the M23 crisis, Uganda has not prevented the presence of M23 and Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) troops on its territory or passage through it,” it said.

Ugandan military intelligence officers had also been in the Congolese town of Bunagana since at least late 2023 “to co-ordinate with M23 leaders, provide logistics and transport M23 leaders to M23-controlled area”.

The report also noted that M23 leaders, including its military chief Sultani Makenga – who is subject to a UN sanctions travel ban – had travelled to Uganda for meetings.

Uganda deputy military spokesman, Deo Akiiki, told the Reuters news agency the allegations in the report were false: “It would be mad for us to destabilise the same area we are sacrificing it all to have it stable.”

But the report further details Uganda’s alleged support for the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) – a newly created movement regarded by some analysts as the political arm of the M23.

It is led by DR Congo’s former electoral chief and says it wants to bring peace to the east, but according to sources quoted in the UN report, it has been seen as an opportunity to legitimise the M23 “while diminishing the role of Rwanda in the crisis”.

A joint AFC-M23 statement in response to a leaked version of the report said the UN experts had distorted the situation which might “obstruct the creation of lasting peace”.

It also gave detailed accounts of other things it felt were incorrect, like an alleged M23 attack at Goma airport and the M23’s alleged forced recruitment and use of child soldiers, which Rwanda denies too.

The AFC-M23 also denied Rwanda’s involvement in the conflict, saying the “obsession with establishing a connection between M23 and Rwanda participates in fuelling the hate ideology which is the root cause of the violence” in eastern DR Congo.

The UN report said by early April 2024, the M23 and Rwanda military’s area of influence was the largest ever recorded – representing a 70% increase since November.

It said that the deployment of advanced military technology and equipment bolstered joint M23-Rwandan military operations, “altering conflict dynamics” including by grounding all Congolese military “air assets”.

The report included photos and screengrabs giving details of the weapons and drones used – allegedly provided to the M23 despite an arms embargo.

Rwanda’s government spokesperson Yolande Makolo accused Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi of sabre-rattling.

“He has also consistently threatened to declare war on Rwanda,” she told the BBC, accusing the Congolese army of financing and fighting alongside the FDLR.

She said DR Congo had all the power to de-escalate the situation if it wanted to “but until then Rwanda will continue to defend itself”.

A regional force from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) was deployed at the end of last year to help DR Congo’s military deal with conflicts in the east.

“Contrary to what we expected, the summit will no longer be held today,” the presidency’s media officer Mario Jorge told journalists on Sunday, without elaborating on why the meeting was cancelled at the last minute.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco – the African Union mediator to end the conflict – was meeting alone with DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi, Jorge said.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame had been expected at the meeting but it was not clear if he was in Angola.

The DRC presidency said in a statement that the meeting was cancelled because the Rwandan delegation refused to take part.

Rwanda’s foreign ministry said that a lack of consensus over direct talks between the DRC and a rebel group meant that it would not have been possible for a deal to be signed on Sunday.

There had been hopes the talks would reach an agreement to end the conflict in the eastern DRC, where the M23 fighter group – which the DRC and the UN say is backed by Rwanda – has seized swaths of territory, displacing thousands and triggering a major humanitarian crisis.

Before the talks, fighting intensified between the DRC army and the M23 rebel group on Friday.

The DRC’s army had accused M23 of killing 12 civilians earlier this week in villages of the Lubero territory in the eastern province of North Kivu.

An M23 spokesperson, however, denied the accusation, discrediting it as “propaganda” from the DRC government.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich eastern part of DRC near the border with Rwanda.

The conflict there has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than seven million people displaced.

Rwanda denies that it backs the M23, but in February admitted that it has troops and missile systems in eastern DRC to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of DRC forces near the border.

According to a UN expert group report, 3,000 to 4,000 Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) members are fighting alongside the M23 in DRC.

Last month, the DRC and Rwanda’s foreign ministers agreed on the terms and conditions of the disengagement of Rwandan forces in eastern DRC.

In July, DRC signed a ceasefire with M23 that came into effect in August, but fighting has resumed since.

Earlier this month, the United States said it was “gravely concerned” by ceasefire violations by M23 rebels.

Aline Kasereka, a mother of six living in the DRC’s town of Lubero, approximately 50km (30 miles) from the villages where the fighting took place this week, said the peace talks between the two neighbouring countries are urgently needed.

“We are tired of the war, every day we move, we do not know in which country we are any more,” Kasereka told The Associated Press news agency.

The world champion was ordered to complete some “work of public interest” for the transgression, a punishment he described as “ridiculous” at the time.

Governing body the FIA said after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that Verstappen’s duty would coincide with its prize-giving in the African country’s capital next week.

The top three drivers in the F1 world championship are required by regulation to attend the end-of-season FIA prize-giving ceremony. Verstappen’s punishment has been tagged on to the mandatory trip.

A statement said: “While in Kigali, (Verstappen) will undertake some work with junior competitors as part of the grassroots development programme organised by the Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC).

“The activity will involve an FIA affordable cross car which was built locally in Rwanda by the RAC from blueprints provided by the FIA.

“Verstappen’s penalty, along with a fine for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for a similar offence at the Mexico City Grand Prix, led the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association to publish an open letter asking the FIA to treat them like adults.

The letter also criticised the FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who has caused widespread dismay in F1 at his actions this year, for his “tone and language” when addressing the topic.