The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) wants a peace agreement with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels before a planned summit next month between the leaders of the two countries and US president Donald Trump.
The countries signed a deal on Friday in Washington where they pledged to support negotiations in Qatar between DRC and the M23, which occupies a large area of mineral-rich eastern DRC including its two largest cities. While the rebels would not necessarily need to withdraw before the presidential meeting, DRC wants “an agreement” in place that they will, foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner has said.
“I want to be confident that before then we would have something tangible,” Ms Kayikwamba said. “For us it’s extremely important to make sure that we have the commitment at the state level of Rwanda, but also that we have commitments at the level of the M23.”
The US-brokered deal marks Mr Trump’s latest attempt at forging peace, after he claimed he would resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Israel’s war in Gaza soon after taking office. It is far from certain: along with the M23, which is not party to the deal, the Congolese government will still need to negotiate with scores of other armed rebel groups that operate in eastern DRC.
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M23 relaunched a rebellion in 2021, saying it was protecting the rights of ethnic Tutsis and other speakers of the Rwandan language in DRC.
Rwanda denies supporting the M23 but has backed proxy armed groups in eastern DRC for decades, citing security concerns, particularly the continued existence of a rebel group known as the FDLR with links to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The “neutralisation” of the FDLR was one of the first priorities of Friday’s US-brokered agreement.
[ Rwanda-backed rebels claim control of key DR Congo city of GomaOpens in new window ]
Ms Kayikwamba said the government is ready to begin that process through a sensitisation campaign in the communities where the FDLR have lived for years “to offer to them the opportunity to withdraw, to surrender, and to be repatriated in their country”.
Multiple military campaigns over the past two decades have decimated the group, but some parts of DRC’s army have continued to work with FDLR forces against the M23, according to United Nations experts.
M23’s military and political leadership did not respond to multiple emails and text messages requesting comment.
Rwanda’s disengagement “includes the movement of troops, the movement of equipment, the movements of infrastructures and so on”, Ms Kayikwamba said.
As the violence subsides, the countries are planning a regional economic integration pact that could include joint ventures to mine and process eastern DRC’s vast mineral resources, which include gold, tin and tantalum.
The subject is a sensitive one for the country, Ms Kayikwamba said. DRC, US, European Union and United Nations experts have long accused Rwanda and other neighbours of stealing DRC’s natural resources.
A $760 million hydropower plant on the Ruzizi river that will provide power to Rwanda, Congo and Burundi is the first priority, Ms Kayikwamba said.
“I think that is a project that is emblematic for regional integration,” she said.
The commitment of the Trump administration could help the detente succeed where so many others have failed, Ms Kayikwamba said.
“What’s different now is that we have an agreement with a level of buy-in and of political commitment that we haven’t had in a very, very long time in the DRC or in the Great Lakes region,” she said. “It also shows a paradigm shift on the side of the US, which means that they would rather invest in peace in order to invest further.” - Bloomberg
