A labourer carries a sack of ore at the Rubaya coltan mine, in the town of Rubaya, which is controlled by M23 rebels, in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
June 10 – The United States is promoting a deal that would require Rwanda to pull troops from eastern Congo before the two sides sign a peace agreement, sources say, a condition that is sure to rankle Kigali, which describes Congo-based armed groups as an existential threat.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is holding talks to end fighting in eastern Congo and bring billions of dollars of Western investment to the region, which is rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.
Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, told media in May that Washington wanted a peace agreement finalised “within about two months”, an ambitious timeline for resolving a conflict with roots in the Rwandan genocide more than three decades ago.
An undated draft peace agreement allegedly written by US officials says that Rwanda withdraws troops, weapons and equipment from Congo.
The draft goes beyond a declaration of principles that the two countries’ foreign ministers signed at a ceremony in Washington in April with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. That document said the two sides would address any security concerns in a manner that respected each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Rwanda has sent between 7,000 and 12,000 soldiers to eastern Congo to support M23 rebels, analysts and diplomats told Reuters earlier this year, after the rebel group seized the region’s two largest cities in a lightning advance.
Rwanda has long denied providing arms and troops to M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo’s army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 genocide that killed around 1 million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.
Rwanda had not responded to the U.S.-produced draft agreement as of last week. Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told Journalists that experts from Congo and Rwanda would meet this week in Washington to discuss the agreement.
A senior official in the office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of “dragging their feet” on the draft and said Rwanda’s withdrawal was necessary for the peace process to move forward.
The U.S.-produced draft agreement also calls for a “Joint Security Coordination Mechanism” that could include Rwandan and “foreign military observer personnel” to deal with security issues, including the continued presence in Congo of Rwandan Hutu militias.
Analysts say the most commonly cited group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, no longer poses much of a threat to Rwanda, though President Paul Kagame’s government still describes it as a serious threat.
The draft agreement also says Congo would commit to allowing M23 to participate in a national dialogue “on equal footing with other DRC non-state armed groups” – a major concession for Kinshasa, which sees M23 as a terrorist group and Rwandan proxy.
Congo is engaged in separate direct talks with M23 over a possible deal to end the latest cycle of fighting.
The draft agreement says Rwanda “shall take all possible measures to ensure” M23 withdraws from territory it controls, in line with terms agreed in Doha.
Sources say that Qatar had presented a draft proposal to both delegations which would consult their leaders before resuming talks.
A rebel official, though, said there had been little progress towards a final deal that would see M23 cede territory.
