Rwanda, Congo sign US-brokered peace deal to end fighting that killed thousands
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement on Friday, raising hopes for an end to fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year.The agreement marks a breakthrough in talks held by U.S.President Donald Trump’s administration and aims to attract billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium, and other minerals.At a ceremony with U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, the two African countries’ foreign ministers signed the agreement pledging to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days, according to a copy seen by Reuters.Kinshasa and Kigali will also launch a regional economic integration framework within 90 days, the agreement said.“They were going at it for many years, and with machetes – it is one of the worst, one of the worst wars that anyone has ever seen.And I just happened to have somebody that was able to get it settled,” Trump said on Friday, ahead of the signing of the deal in Washington.“We’re getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as part of it.
They’re so honored to be here.They never thought they’d be coming.”Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe called the agreement a turning point.
Congo Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said it must be followed by disengagement.Trump later met both officials in the Oval Office, where he presented them with letters inviting Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to Washington to sign a package of agreements that Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, dubbed the “Washington Accord”.Nduhungirehe told Trump that past deals had not been implemented and urged Trump to stay engaged.Trump warned of “very severe penalties, financial and otherwise”, if the agreement is violated.Rwanda has sent...