DRC and Rwanda initial draft peace deal ahead of signing next week

Washington/Kinshasa/Dakar — Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) technical teams have initialled a draft peace agreement in Washington that is expected to be signed next week.

The provisional agreement, announced in a joint statement, could mark a breakthrough in talks held by the Trump administration to end the fighting in eastern DRC and bring billions of dollars of Western investment to the region, which is rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.

Wednesday’s provisional agreement, reached after three days of talks, addresses territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of nonstate armed groups, according to the statement.

The agreement also includes provisions on the establishment of a joint security mechanism that incorporates a proposal discussed by the parties last year under Angolan mediation.

The ministerial signing of the agreement is scheduled for June 27.

Rwandan and DRC experts reached an agreement twice last year under Angolan mediation on the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and joint operations against the Rwandan Hutu rebel group FDLR, but ministers from both countries failed to endorse the deal.

Angola stepped down in March from its position as a mediator between the parties involved in an escalating M23 offensive in DRC after several attempts to resolve the conflict.

Fighting in eastern DRC escalated this year as M23 rebels staged an advance that saw it seize the region’s two largest cities, raising fears of a wider conflict.

The DRC says Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms. Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against the DRC’s army and ethnic Hutu militia linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed more than 800,000 civilians, mostly ethnic Tutsis.

Reuters