Trump to host Rwanda, DRC leaders at White House to sign peace agreement

Meeting to physique connected earlier agreements to extremity warring successful eastbound DRC, which has persisted passim talks.

United States President Donald Trump volition big the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) connected Thursday, the White House has announced.

Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters that DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda President Paul Kagame volition motion a “historic bid and economical statement that [Trump] brokered”.

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The lawsuit comes aft the overseas ministers of the 2 African nations signed a preliminary bid agreement and economical pact astatine a White House lawsuit successful June. After months of talks, they met successful Qatar successful November and signed a model with the eventual extremity of putting an end to years of fighting.

M23 rebels person fought the DRC authorities successful North Kivu state for implicit a decade, successful a struggle with roots successful the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The rebels, among much than 100 groups operating successful eastbound DRC, are made up chiefly of taste Tutsi, who were targeted by the Hutu successful Rwanda.

The radical resurged successful 2021 with the alleged enactment of Rwanda. Kigali has denied moving straight with the M23, alternatively saying Rwandan forces person acted successful self-defence against the DRC’s subject and taste Hutu fighters successful the porous borderline region.

Thousands of people, galore of them civilians, person been killed successful the violence, which surged during an violative astatine the opening of this twelvemonth that saw the M23 prehend 2 of the DRC’s largest cities.

Fighting has continued sporadically arsenic the truce talks person progressed.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that astatine slightest 319 civilians were killed successful North Kivu state by “M23 fighters, aided by members of the Rwanda Defence Force” successful July, soon aft the archetypal White House deal.

Details of a last statement were not instantly clear.

In Doha, Qatar, the 2 sides signed 2 of 8 implementation protocols, including a proviso connected ceasefire monitoring and different connected captive exchange.

Other protocols related to a timeline, details of humanitarian assistance delivery, and the instrumentality of displaced radical had yet to beryllium agreed on.

Other unresolved issues astatine the clip included restoring authorities authority, implementing economical reforms, reintegration of equipped groups into the government, and the elimination of overseas groups.

A DRC statesmanlike spokesperson told the Associated Press quality bureau successful November that immoderate statement indispensable guarantee the “territorial integrity” of the country.

Despite the lingering questions, Trump has repeatedly claimed the struggle arsenic 1 of respective helium has helped extremity since taking bureau successful January.