Latest news with #RwandaCongo
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Congo and Rwanda Sign a Peace Accord in Washington
WASHINGTON—Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal, aiming to end one of the world's most pernicious conflicts and open their shared stretch of East African mineral wealth to U.S. investment. Rwanda and Congo on Friday agreed to 'immediately and unconditionally cease any state support to nonstate armed groups' in eastern Congo, and to work for their 'disengagement, disarmament, and integration.'
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Rwanda and Congo sign peace deal in Washington to end fighting and attract investment
Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a US-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 US 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 US 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 version initialled by technical teams last week and seen by Reuters. Kinshasa and Kigali will also launch a regional economic integration framework within 90 days, the agreement said. READ MORE On Friday, ahead of the signing of the deal in Washington, Mr Trump 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.' '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,' he said. Mr Trump was due to meet the foreign ministers in the Oval Office later on Friday. Rwanda has sent at least 7,000 soldiers over the border, according to analysts and diplomats, in support of the M23 rebels who seized eastern Congo's two largest cities and lucrative mining areas in a lightning advance earlier this year. The gains this year by M23— the latest cycle in a decades-old conflict with roots in the 1994 Rwandan genocide— sparked fears that a wider war could draw in Congo's neighbours. Rwandan foreign minister Olivier Nduhungirehe called the deal a turning point. Congo foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said the agreement must be followed by disengagement. The US state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the initialled version of the agreement. —Reuters Massad Boulos, Trump's senior adviser for Africa, told Reuters in May that Washington wanted the peace deal and accompanying minerals deals to be signed simultaneously this summer. Mr Rubio said on Friday that heads of state would be 'here in Washington in a few weeks to finalise the complete protocol and agreement'. However, the agreement signed on Friday gives Congo and Rwanda three months to launch a framework 'to expand foreign trade and investment derived from regional critical mineral supply chains', according to the initialled version seen by Reuters. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that another agreement on the framework would be signed by the heads of state at a separate White House event at an unspecified time. There is an understanding that progress in ongoing talks in Doha - a separate but parallel mediation effort with delegations from the Congolese government and M23 - is essential before the signing of the economic framework, the source said. The agreement signed on Friday was set to voice 'full support' for the Qatar-hosted talks, according to the initialled version. It also says Congo and Rwanda will form a joint security coordination mechanism within 30 days and implement a plan agreed last year to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers within three months. Congolese military operations targeting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda's former army and militias that carried out the 1994 genocide, are meant to conclude over the same timeframe. Congo, the United Nations and Western powers say Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms. Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. —
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Rwanda and DR Congo sign peace deal, as Trump cheers mineral rights for US
Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a US-brokered peace agreement on Friday, raising hopes for an end to fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year. Advertisement The agreement marks a breakthrough in talks held by US 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 US 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 version initialled by technical teams last week and 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. Advertisement 'We're getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as part of it. They're so honoured to be here. They never thought they'd be coming.'
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Rwanda, DR Congo sign peace deal in us after rebel sweep
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. The two foreign ministers signed the deal brokered by the United States, Qatar and the African Union in the presence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who acknowledged there was 'more work to be done' but said the deal will let people 'now have dreams and hopes for a better life.' The agreement comes after the M23 rebel group, an ethnic Tutsi force widely linked to Rwanda, sprinted across the long-turbulent and mineral-rich east of the DRC earlier this year, seizing vast territory including the key city of Goma. The deal does not explicitly address the gains of the M23 but calls for Rwanda to end 'defensive measures' it has taken. Rwanda has denied directly supporting the M23 rebels 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. The agreement calls for the 'neutralization' of the FDLR. 'The first order of business is to begin implementing the concept of operations for the neutralization of the FDLR, to be accompanied by a lifting of Rwanda's defensive measures,' Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said at the ceremony. 'This is grounded in the commitment made here for an irreversible and verifiable end to state support for FDLR and associated militias,' he said. His Congolese counterpart, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, highlighted the agreement's promises for a respect to sovereignty. 'By signing this agreement, we reaffirm a simple truth. Peace is a choice, but also a responsibility to respect international law, to uphold human rights and to protect sovereignty of states,' she said. Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman and father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany tapped by the president as a senior advisor on Africa, said that the agreement was also establishing a joint security coordination body that will help with the return of refugees. Trump takes credit Trump has trumpeted the diplomacy that led to the deal, and publicly complained that he has not received a Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking to reporters, Trump said that the United States will be able to secure 'a lot of mineral rights from the Congo.' 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 that 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. 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, legitimizing 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. Both countries have sought favor with the United States. The DRC offered a minerals deal loosely inspired by the Trump administration's minerals agreement with Ukraine. Rwanda has been discussing taking in migrants deported from the United States, a major priority for Trump. Rwanda, one of the most stable countries in Africa, had reached a migration deal with Britain's former Conservative government but the arrangement was killed by the Labor government that took office last year.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Rwanda, Congo sign U.S.-brokered peace deal in Washington
WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - Rwanda and 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 so far this year. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the two countries' foreign ministers at the Department of State in Washington for the signing of the agreement.
