Key points
- Agreement targets M23, FDLR militias for disarmament
- Concerns raised over justice and resource exploitation
- Deal includes regional security, economic cooperation plan
ISLAMABAD: Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace agreement Friday in Washington to end fighting that has killed thousands, with the two countries pledging to pull back support for guerrillas — and President Donald Trump boasting of securing mineral wealth.
“Today, the violence and destruction come to an end, and the entire region begins a new chapter of hope and opportunity,” Trump said as he welcomed the foreign ministers to the White House. “This is a wonderful day,” he said.
The agreement comes after the M23, an ethnic Tutsi rebel force linked to Rwanda, sprinted across the mineral-rich east of the DRC earlier this year, seizing vast territory including the key city of Goma, according to AFP.
The deal – negotiated through Qatar since before Trump took office – does not explicitly address the gains of the M23 in the area torn by decades of on-and-off war but calls for Rwanda to end “defensive measures” it has taken.
Supporting M23
Rwanda has denied directly supporting the M23 but has demanded an end to another armed group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which was established by ethnic Hutus linked to the massacres of Tutsis in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, according to Reuters.
The agreement calls for the “neutralisation” of the FDLR, with Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe saying the “irreversible and verifiable end to state support” to the Hutu militants should be the “first order of business.”
The process would be “accompanied by a lifting of Rwanda’s defensive measures,” Nduhungirehe said at a signing ceremony at the State Department.
But he added: “We must acknowledge that there is a great deal of uncertainty in our region, and beyond, because many previous agreements have not been implemented.”
Respecting state sovereignty
His Congolese counterpart, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, highlighted the agreement’s call for respecting state sovereignty.
“It offers a rare chance to turn the page, not just with words but with real change on the ground. Some wounds will heal, but they will never fully disappear,” she said.
The agreement also sets up a joint security coordination body to monitor progress and calls vaguely for a “regional economic integration framework” within three months.
Trump has trumpeted the diplomacy that led to the deal, and started his White House event by bringing up a journalist who said he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaking to reporters earlier Friday, Trump said the United States will be able to secure “a lot of mineral rights from the Congo,” according to France 24.
Mineral reserves
The DRC has enormous mineral reserves that include lithium and cobalt, vital in electric vehicles and other advanced technologies, with US rival China now a key player in securing the resources.
Trump, in an uncharacteristic expression of modesty, said he had been unfamiliar with the conflict as he appeared to allude to the horrors of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Tutsis, were killed in just 100 days.
“I’m a little out of my league on that one because I didn’t know too much about it. I knew one thing – they were going at it for many years with machetes,” Trump said.
The agreement drew wide but not universal praise.
Decisive step
Bintu Keita, a senior UN official in the DRC, said it “marks a decisive step toward peace and stability,” while Germany hailed the “excellent news” and called for implementation.
French President Emmanuel Macron also praised the “historic step forward,” adding that “peace must hold.”
But Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who shared the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end the DRC’s epidemic of sexual violence in war, voiced alarm about the agreement, saying it effectively benefited Rwanda and the United States.
The deal “would amount to granting a reward for aggression, legitimising the plundering of Congolese natural resources, and forcing the victim to alienate their national heritage by sacrificing justice in order to ensure a precarious and fragile peace,” he said in a statement ahead of the signing, according to AFP.
Physicians for Human Rights, which has worked in the DRC, welcomed the de-escalation but said the agreement had “major omissions,” including accountability for rights violations.
