Agreement draws scrutiny for its vagueness, with Trump administration eyeing mineral wealth in eastern DRC

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are expected to sign a peace deal in Washington later on Friday to end fighting in eastern DRC, amid uncertainty over what the agreement means and who stands to benefit.

On Wednesday, the US state department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the foreign ministers of the two countries would sign the deal in the presence of the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. The White House said the US president, Donald Trump, would meet the foreign ministers in the Oval Office.

The agreement, mediated by Qatar and the US, aims to end a decades-old conflict that is rooted in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In a major escalation this year, the M23 rebel group made a rapid territorial advance against the Congolese military and its allies in eastern DRC in fighting that killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.

M23 is among more than 100 armed groups fighting against Congolese forces in the mineral-rich eastern DRC. The group, which is led by Tutsis, says it exists to protect the interests of minorities including the Tutsis, including protecting them against Hutu rebel groups who escaped to the DRC after taking part in the 1994 genocide that targeted the Tutsis.

Rwanda has also denied directly supporting the rebels and 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 genocide.

In a joint statement before the signing, the three countries said the agreement would include “respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities” and the disarmament of all “non-state armed groups”.

The statement also spoke of a “regional economic integration framework” and of a future summit in Washington bringing together Trump, the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, and the DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi.

The deal has come under scrutiny for its vagueness, including on the economic component, with the Trump administration eager to profit from abundant mineral wealth in eastern DRC.

The agreement aims to attract western investment to the two countries’ mining sectors, which contain deposits of tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium, while giving the US access to critical minerals.

Technical experts from the two countries initialled a draft peace agreement last week, saying it addressed issues related to territorial integrity, “a prohibition of hostilities” and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups.

It also referred to a mechanism agreed as part of an earlier Angolan-backed peace effort to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers and Congolese military operations targeting the FDLR.

But it remains unclear how far the agreement, which is expected to be signed on Friday, will advance beyond a declaration of principles agreed in April.

Calling for justice and reparations, he said on social media: “In its current state, the emerging agreement 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.”

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Source: www.theguardian.com